Veterans Day, initially known as Armistice Day, commemorates the end of World War I. The armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, marking the end of the "war to end all wars." The following year, on November 11, 1919, the first Armistice Day was celebrated in the United States.

Memorial Day, formerly known as Decoration Day, has its origins in the aftermath of the American Civil War. The Civil War, which ended in the spring of 1865, left the nation divided and mourning the loss of hundreds of thousands of soldiers from both the Union and Confederate sides.