I don’t think having one holiday about soldiers who died in a war and another holiday about soldiers who didn’t really works, it all blends together into one “military” theme.

The truth is Memorial Day started out as a holiday to celebrate the Civil War, while Veterans’ Day started out (as “Armstice Day”) as a holiday to celebrate WWI and then later got patched to incorporate WWII and Korea (displacing attempts to sanctify V-E, V-J, or Pearl Harbor Day).

Meanwhile Independence Day started as a celebration of the Revolutionary War, Patriot Day is I guess a celebration of the War on Terror. Armed Forces Day is a celebration of bureaucratic reorganization.