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American Legion Posts 15 and 263 and American Legion Auxiliary Units 15 and 264 will sponsor the 2020 annual Veterans Day service. The event will be held 11 a.m. Wednesday at Veterans Park on East Third Street, Washington. The public is invited. A virtual presentation will be available.

Celebrated as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day in other countries, Veterans Day is celebrated on the 11th of November because it commemorates the signing of the Armistice that brought World War I to an end.

President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the first Armistice Day on Nov. 11, 1919. Beginning in 1954, the United States designated Nov. 11 as Veterans Day to honor veterans of all U.S. wars. In 1971, President Nixon declared it a federal holiday on the second Monday in November each year to honor and thank our veterans and to celebrate the bravery and sacrifice of all United States veterans, both male and female.

Both the American Legion and the American Legion Auxiliary have celebrate their 100th anniversary. The American Legion is a nonprofit organization of U.S. war veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is made up of state, U.S. territory and overseas departments, and these are in turn made up of local posts. The organization was formed on March 15, 1919, in Paris, France, by a thousand officers and men of the American Expeditionary Forces (A.E.F.), and it was chartered on Sept. 16, 1919, by the United States Congress.

The mission of the American Legion Auxiliary is to support the American Legion and honor the sacrifice of those who serve by enhancing the lives of our veterans, military and their families, both at home and abroad.

All veterans and spouses are encouraged to join our organizations.