We will remember them.

[Silvertusk]

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

[Danieltwotwenty]

Spare a thought also for all victims of war and oppression.

[Thadeyus]

*Holds minute silence for those who have fallen...*

[PeteSinCA]

What is now called Veteran's day in the US originally commemorated (and was named) Armistice Day - the day on which World War 1 ended. On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month the guns fell silent. While almost all of the fighting happened in Europe - land and sea - much of the world was affected. Germany had colonies in China and Africa. A flotilla based in Tsingtao fought two battles, and one light cruiser from the group was a commerce raider in the SW Pacific. Another German light cruiser raided commerce in the Indian Ocean before taking refuge up a river in East Africa. The Imperial Japanese Navy contributed to convoy escort and raider suppression. Australia and New Zealand contributed many troops to the disastrous abortive Gallipoli invasion and to fighting in France - proportionally, Aussies and Kiwis suffered far more greatly than did the US. No fighting happened in South or Central America, but two sea battles - involving the German flotilla from Tsingtao - were fought off the South American east and west coasts.

The WW1 slogan, "Keep the world safe for democracy," had some reality and hopeful thought behind it. Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire were dying empires, trying to preserve their imperial holdings. Kaiser Wilhelm II was bellicose and had quite an inferiority complex; he would gladly have swallowed up France, Belgium and maybe the Netherlands. The there's the Allies ... Britain was possibly less oppressive as a ruler of an empire, but the difference was in degree, not kind. And the Russian empire was both brutal and dying (though the Soviets were far, far, more brutal and murderous than the Tsars ever imagined trying to be).

At a national and leadership level, WW1 was a mess! To borrow and amend an American metaphor, everyone's hats were gray, differing somewhat in darkness. But Armistice Day (Veteran's Day), in the US at least, has always honored the men who served. In Augsburg, Germany there is a very moving memorial (I tried in vain to find a pic of it online - my Google-Fu was not strong enough) to the men who returned in defeat from WW1; whatever their leaders, they, too, served honorably.