Norwich — Two Veterans Day ceremonies were held in Norwich on Wednesday, the traditional 11 a.m. ceremony in Taftville and an afternoon program on Chelsea Parade.

About 60 veterans and others gathered at Chelsea Parade under gray skies and a brisk November north wind.

Emcee Mike Baker, a Navy veteran and past quartermaster at the Richard E. Hourigan VFW Post 594 in Norwich, gave the crowd a quick history of Veterans Day, declared by President Woodrow Wilson as Armistice Day in 1919, marking the end of World War I and called Remembrance Day by World War I allied nations.

In 1938, Baker said, it became an official federal holiday. After World War II and then the Korean War, veterans lobbied to broaden the meaning to cover all service veterans, and so the holiday was changed to Veterans Day.

The holiday honors all veterans, Baker said, living and deceased, killed in action and missing in action or wounded, active or retired.

“It's more encompassing than Memorial Day,” he said.

State Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, said there is still one group not yet recognized for military service — women nurses and pilots who served during the Normandy invasion on Dec. 6, 1944.

Osten said many of these women died in action while treating wounded soldiers and sailors and still have not been recognized as veterans 71 years later.

Osten said there is a piece of legislation pending in Congress to honor these women as veterans, and she introduced a resolution of support during the last Connecticut legislative session.

Her resolution was not taken up, Osten said, but she will try again next spring, hoping to win support while the few remaining survivors still live.

Norwich Free Academy Athletic Director Eric Swallow ended Wednesday's program by inviting veterans to Friday's second annual Veterans' Appreciation Night at the NFA football game.

A reception for active duty service members and retired veterans will be held at 5 p.m., and an on-field tribute will be held at 6:30 p.m. prior to the game, which is against Stonington.

c.bessette@theday.com

Twitter: @Bessettetheday