End of First World War Honored Across the Globe

The parade themed "Legacy of Honor" will begin on Fifth Avenue, from 26th street through 56th Street at 11:30 a.m. It will feature over 20,000 participants including veterans from all eras, active duty military, ROTC and JrROTC units, civic and youth groups, marching bands, and floats, military and vintage vehicles.

"Veterans have inspired me," Bush said in a speech Tuesday before attending rededication ceremony of the Intrepid Air, Sea and Space Museum. "I was raised by a veteran. I appreciate the commitment to our country that the veterans have made."

"Our nation is blessed because our liberties have been defended by brave men and women in the past and we are blessed to have brave men and women defend our liberties today."

US president-elect Barack Obama Tuesday echoed a time-honored presidential tradition Tuesday by laying a wreath at a memorial to mark Veterans Day in the United States.

Obama placed flowers at a bronze memorial at Chicago's Soldier Field with Tammy Duckworth, a disabled Iraq war veteran who serves as director of the department of veterans affairs for Illinois.

"On this Veterans Day, let us rededicate ourselves to keep a sacred trust with all who have worn the uniform of the United States of America: that America will serve you as well as you have served your country. As your next Commander-in-Chief, I promise to work every single day to keep that sacred trust with all who have served. May God bless our veterans, and may God bless the United States of America."

Thousands of Canadians gathered under grey skies at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Tuesday morning for Canada's largest Remembrance Day ceremony.

The family members of six of the soldiers arrived in Kandahar on Monday and were given a tour of the base before attending the Remembrance Day ceremony with the troops at the airfield on Tuesday.

The three veterans then led a two-minute silence on the stroke of 1100 as the nation stopped to mark the moment - the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month - in 1918 that the war ended.

There have been fears that once the veterans die, their stories may not live on. But the importance of Armistice Day was apparent to people of all ages in the crowd who spoke to the BBC News website.

One million Remembrance Day poppies have been dropped over the QE2 in Southampton, ahead of its final voyage.

A DeHavilland Beaver aircraft accompanied by an Auster flew over the QE2 at 1100 GMT to mark the beginning of a two-minute silence.

Then as thousands of people watched, a Harrier jet dipped its nose in tribute.