“Today is not Memorial Day, it’s Veterans Day,” Olsen, who is commander of the Saranac Lake Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3357 and a retired chaplain for the New York National Guard, told the gathered crowd Thursday. “Throughout the free world, across the Globe, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day, we stop to remember when the world was at war and the horrific price that it cost many nations, toppling empires, giving rise to other philosophies and thoughts that have troubled our nation and our world ever since.”

Veterans Day is celebrated at 11 a.m. on Nov. 11 every year because the 1918 armistice, which eventually led to the end of World War I, went into effect at 11 a.m., Paris time, on Nov. 11, 1918 — the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Nov. 11, 1919 the first Armistice Day, and in 1954, the holiday was altered to honor all veterans.

“That war brought onto us a second world war, which claimed more lives,” Olsen said. “Since then, great men and women of our country and of the free world have stepped up to do service to their country and for people within it.

“Today, as we remember, we want to remember those veterans who are among us in our community and those who are in service right now. As we remember those who have fallen, certainly, we want to remember those who have come home and had to face the battle of returning home after seeing the horrors as well as the hardships of combat and loss,” he added. “We want to think this day of those gold star mothers, who have lost sons and daughters, and those families that sacrifice every day as their loved ones leave, not knowing whether they will return, not knowing what will befall them.”

First Lt. Garth Olsen of Saranac Lake, who serves with the Army’s 69th Infantry in Manhattan, leads a prayer during a Veterans Day ceremony in Riverside Park in Saranac Lake Thursday. (Enterprise photo — Elizabeth Izzo)

First Lt. Garth Olsen of Saranac Lake, now serving with the Army’s 69th Infantry, led a prayer during the Veterans Day ceremony Thursday, then local veterans stood at attention as taps was played.

Local veterans stand at attention during a Veterans Day ceremony in Saranac Lake's Riverside Park Thursday. (Enterprise photo — Elizabeth Izzo)

First Lt. Garth Olsen of Saranac Lake, right, leads a prayer during a ceremony in honor of Veterans Day at Riverside Park in Saranac Lake Thursday. His father, Saranac Lake Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3357 Commander Rev. Eric Olsen, left, stands beside him. (Enterprise photo — Elizabeth Izzo)