Here in the US we celebrate Pearl Harbor Day on December 7th, commemorating the date of the Japanese attack. War was officially not declared until December 8th, but fair to say we pay much more attention to the beginning of the war than the end.

Australia's biggest war holiday, ANZAC Day, commemorates the Anzac Campaign of WWI, in which the Australian New Zealand Army Corps landed in the wrong part of Turkey and was successfully held at by by the Turks. Far from seeing it as a defeat, it is seen as a defining part of our national identity, with our stoical and yet larrikin attitude and pride developing, and the ANZACs did everything they could and had to do under orders, proving their ingenuity in the process. The result of the campaign was a defeat, but now both Turkish and Australian/New Zealander citizens remember the campaign as bravely fought by both sides, and treat each other with great respect.