Happy Veterans Day

In the United Kingdom, Veterans Day is celebrated with red paper poppies pinned to lapels in remembrance of those who served in World War I. The practice caught on after the bloody battlefields of France bloomed with red poppies following the war. Every year British people wear these red flower pins for about a month leading up to Nov. 11, and buying one of these paper flowers funds veterans groups. The U.K. memorializes the end of World War I with purpose and style.

Veterans Day began as a commemoration of World War I, that 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 when the guns were silenced and the Armistice was called and peace came at last. After four long years of fighting in the "War to End all Wars," the dead numbered an estimated 9 million troops. Nearly 120,000 were Americans.

Nov. 11 was originally Armistice Day in the United States, though it wasn't ratified by Congress until 1938. By the mid-1950s veterans groups urged Congress to change the day to honor Americans who'd served in all wars, removing the distinctive honor for those who served in World War I.