A Look At Veterans Day Around the U.S.

In small communities and large cities alike, people gathered Tuesday to honor those who have served in the U.S. armed forces.

Vice President Joe Biden, speaking at Arlington National Cemetery during a Veterans Day wreath-laying ceremony, said that the United States has never before “asked so much over such a sustained period of an all-volunteer force.”

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Airman Trevor O’Bryan waits for the arrival of visitors to the annual Veterans Day Observance Ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Va., Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014. Americans marked Veterans Day on Tuesday with parades, speeches and military discounts, while in Europe the holiday known as Armistice Day held special meaning in the centennial year of the start of World War I. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

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The last U.S. veteran of World War I is gone and the ranks of World War II and Korean War vets are dwindling. Now there are more than 200,000 U.S. troops serving overseas, including service members permanently stationed at bases around the world and others deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq, Africa and other hotspots. Of those, nearly 20,000 are in Afghanistan.

To read more, visit the AP news story.

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Click on any image to launch A Look at Veterans Day Around the World Gallery.

A retired Korean War Veteran, Wheeler Forshee, sits and watches the Veterans Day parade Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

A member of the Daughters of the American Revolution holds a bundle of American flags to be passed out before a Veterans Day parade in Indianapolis, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Vietnam veteran The Rev. Dr. Lawrence Brown listens to remarks during a ceremony on Veterans Day, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014, at the The All Wars Memorial to Colored Soldiers and Sailors in Philadelphia. Americans marked Veterans Day on Tuesday with parades, speeches and military discounts, while in Europe the holiday known as Armistice Day held special meaning in the centennial year of the start of World War I. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

A U.S. Navy veteran of World War II and the Korean War, Ted Peters, of Cooperstown, N.Y., pauses as he walks from a Veterans Day ceremony in Princeton, N.J., Tuesday, Nov.11, 2014. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Vice President Joe Biden arrives to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. in honor of Veterans Day. Americans marked Veterans Day on Tuesday with parades, speeches and military discounts, while in Europe the holiday known as Armistice Day held special meaning in the centennial year of the start of World War I. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Retired US Army Staff Sergeant Travis Mills of the 82nd Airborne waves to a fellow veteran as he watches a Veterans Day parade in downtown Dallas, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014. Mills was wounded in action by an IED in Afghanistan becoming the 4th of 5 quadruple U.S. service amputees in the war in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Aimee Tarte visits her father’s grave on Veterans Day at the South Florida National Cemetery in Lake Worth, Fla., Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014. He was a Vietnam veteran, who died in January. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Army veteran Renee Anderson salutes during a ceremony on Veterans Day, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014, at the The All Wars Memorial to Colored Soldiers and Sailors in Philadelphia. Americans marked Veterans Day on Tuesday with parades, speeches and military discounts, while in Europe the holiday known as Armistice Day held special meaning in the centennial year of the start of World War I. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

U.S. military service members cast a shadow next to a memorial as they stand during a Veterans Day ceremony at the Atlanta History Center, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

An American flag flies over war veterans tombstones at Golden Gate National Cemetery on Monday, Nov. 10, 2014, in San Bruno, Calif. The U.S. celebrates Veterans Day on Tuesday in honor of those who have served in the nation’s military. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Active duty military service members look on during the annual Veterans Day Observance Ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014. Americans marked Veterans Day on Tuesday with parades, speeches and military discounts, while in Europe the holiday known as Armistice Day held special meaning in the centennial year of the start of World War I. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

A woman knees at a headstone after placing an American flag and cross at Fort San Houston National Cemetery, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Carol Rump, center, looks over at her husband, U.S. Army Korean War veteran Urban Rump, 83, left, as he wears his old uniform while joined by Dolores Moore, right, during a moment of silence at a Veterans Day ceremony at the Atlanta History Center, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Members of The United States Naval Academy sing prior to a Veterans Day commemoration Ceremony at Soldier Field Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014, in Chicago. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

Dan Howieson, right, and his wife Catherine Howieson, from Montgomery, Ala, touch the name of their classmate Darrell Colford, who was killed in Bien Hoa in the province of Dong Nai, Vietnam, inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial during Veterans Day commemoration in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014. The Howiesons named their son in his honor. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

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Opening text from the AP news story, A Look at Veterans Day Around the U.S..

 

Lead Image Caption: U.S. Army Georgia National Guard Staff Sgt. Tracy Smith, right, a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, embraces Korean War veteran Jim Conway, 84, as military service members are asked to sing along to the Armed Services Medley during a Veterans Day ceremony at the Atlanta History Center, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

 

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