Initiated on the first anniversary of the 1918 signing of the Armistice, November 11 became a federal holiday in 1938.  First called Armistice Day, in 1954 it was renamed Veterans’ Day.  A version of remembrance is held in Commonwealth countries and Europe.  Because of a celebrated WWI poem about Flanders Fields, red poppies symbolized the soldiers who sacrificed their lives.  Since the November US holiday remembers living veterans, poppies are worn on Memorial Day — the last Monday in May — the day when the US honors its fallen soldiers.