What is Veterans Day?

Why this is the answer

Veterans Day honors every person who has served in the U.S. armed forces, whether they are alive today or have died. That breadth is the whole point of the holiday, and it explains the two answers on the USCIS list: a holiday to honor people in the military, or a holiday to honor people who have served. The words in parentheses, "U.S." and "in the U.S. military," are optional, so either short form works. The date comes from the end of World War I, the "Great War." The war ended on November 11, 1918. The following year President Woodrow Wilson, who had led the country through the war, officially recognized the day as Armistice Day, and it came to be observed around the world in honor of those who fought. Veterans themselves pushed for the new name. In 1954 they asked Congress to change Armistice Day by law, and on June 1 of that year Congress made Veterans Day a national holiday honoring the men and women, living or deceased, who served in the military. A day tied to one war became a day for all military service. It is also one of the holidays that never moves to a Monday. The 2008 USCIS lessons list Veterans Day among the six holidays left out of the Monday pattern that began in 1971, so it stays on November 11 every year. The line that matters most is the one between this holiday and Memorial Day. Memorial Day, on the last Monday in May, is for those who died in service. Veterans Day includes them but does not stop there; a neighbor who served and came home safely is honored on November 11. "A holiday for soldiers who died" belongs to the May holiday. The 1918 date also links this question to the history section, since World War I is one of the wars the United States fought in the 1900s. To keep the pair straight, attach a verb to each month: in May the country remembers its dead, and in November it thanks everyone who wore the uniform.