Friday marks the 98th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that led to the end of World War I - which officially began in July 1914, about a month after the assassination of Austria's Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo, Bosnia.
The war pitted the Central Powers - Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire - against the Allied Powers of Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy and Japan.
The United States joined the fighting on the Allied side in 1917.
Often called the Great War or the "war to end all wars," the more than four-year war "saw unprecedented levels of carnage and destruction, thanks to grueling trench warfare and the introduction of modern weaponry such as machine guns, tanks and chemical weapons," the History Channel reports on its website.
By the time the war ended in November 1918, more than 9 million soldiers had been killed and 21 million more were wounded.
That's a small statistic when compared with World War II, which started just over two decades later in Europe and lasted six years.
"The most widespread and deadliest war in history," the History Channel explains, involved "more than 30 countries and resulted in more than 50 million military and civilian deaths (with some estimates as high as 85 million dead)."
Although still tied to the anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended World War I, what Americans now call Veterans Day is intended to remember all who have served in the military throughout the nation's history - not just those who died in specific conflicts.
The Churchill Memorial at Westminster College, Fulton, recognizes the day with free admission for all veterans, active military and their families from 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Friday.
Other businesses may promote similar offers.
Events scheduled Friday to mark this year's observance include:
8:30 a.m. - Annual St. Peter's Veterans Day Service and Memorial Mass.
The Rev. Charles Pardee, St. Peter Catholic Church's priest, will celebrate the Mass. The combined choirs of St. Peter Church and St. Joseph Cathedral, directed by Lisa Fender, will provide music.
The Three Volley Rifle Salute will be fired by the Marine Corps League's Samuel F. Gearheart Detachment.
9:30 a.m. - Veterans Tribute at Freedom Corner, where East High and East McCarty merge.
11 a.m. - The Jefferson City Veterans Council's annual Veterans Day services in the Capitol Rotunda. This year's guest speaker is U.S. Army veteran and retired broadcaster Warren Krech.
2 p.m. - Blue Star Memorial dedication, Russellville City Hall.
2 p.m. - Lincoln University will end its year-long 150th anniversary celebration with a program in the Thomas D. Pawley Theatre in Martin Luther King Hall. The university is not hosting a breakfast this year.
The LU Veterans Day program will include a special tribute to the men of the 62nd and 65th Colored Infantries, whose vision and dream at the close of the Civil War launched Lincoln's education mission.
The featured speaker is Army Col. Christopher Fry Sr., a 1987 LU and ROTC graduate who was recognized as a Distinguished Military Student while attending LU.
Fry was inducted into Lincoln's Army ROTC Hall of Fame in 2014 and will retire from a 30-year Army career next June. He currently is the assistant chief of staff for the U.S. Army Cadet Command and Senior Army Reserve Advisor based at Fort Knox, Kentucky.
The LU program also will feature a one-man play, "Brethren," by Gregory S. Carr, who is a speech and theater instructor at Harris-Stowe State University in St. Louis.
The play depicts a member of the U.S. Colored Infantries on his journey from slave to soldier to one of the founders of what was then Lincoln Institute.
The program will feature original poetry by Lincoln alumni.