Groton ― Elsie Lignelli rose from her rocking chair and to her feet outside the Solstice Senior Living complex on Friday with a gracefulness that belied her age.

The 105-year-old East Lyme native and former U.S. Army medic was among a group of two dozen people standing at attention ― some with hands on hearts and others saluting ― while members of the Ledyard VFW raised the American flag.

The flag raising was followed by a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.

Friday’s Veterans Day ceremony at Solstice was attended by more than two dozen people and one of numerous celebrations happening across the region. Veterans Day celebrates the service of all veterans and annually falls on Nov. 11, the anniversary of the end of World War I in 1918.

Lignelli was in her early 20s when she decided to enlist in the Army during World War II. It was in the early 1940s, she recalls, that she packed up and left for basic training at Camp Oglethorpe in Georgia. Fort Oglethorpe served as a training facility for the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) during World War II.

Asked why she joined, Lignelli said her mother had died and her brother and husband, James Frank Lignelli, both had been drafted and were stationed overseas with the Army.

“I was at loose ends. So I said, ‘Well, I guess I’ll join the Army,’” she said.

Previous to her service in the Army, Lignelli had taken a one-year medical training course at the former Home Memorial Hospital on Pequot Avenue in New London. That experience landed her a job as an Army medic.

After about two years of service in the Army in Georgia, Lignelli said she was reunited with her husband after the war ended in 1945.

“If you were in service and your husband was in service at that time, you got an automatic discharge,” Lignelli said.

Lignelli is likely the oldest living World War II veteran in the state. When asked about the honor, she smiled and waved her hand as if to brush off a compliment.

The quick-witted Lignelli is among the more than 35 veterans who live at Solstice, said Nicole Morin, Vibrant Life Director at Solstice. Photos of those veterans adorn a Wall of Honor at the entrance to the independent senior living facility on Drozdyk Drive in Groton. Lignelli’s rank is listed as private first class medic in the photo’s caption.

Other veterans with photos on the wall include Paul Baillargeon, 79, a Jewett City native who served in the Marines and saw combat during the Vietnam War. Baillargeon was blunt about his experience in the war.

“That was hell,” he said.

Baillargeon said he appreciated the recognition that Veterans Day brings. He stood and held a stiff salute during Friday’s flag raising.

“I did it and I’m proud of it,” he said of his service.

Ernest Signorino, 80, a Norwich native and Vietnam War veteran, also attended the ceremony. Signorino was a medic in the Army who flew into war zones to retrieve wounded soldiers.

He called his role during the Vietnam War a “redeeming job...helping others.”

Faron Boreham, Solstice’s executive director, thanked the veterans in written remarks read at Friday’s ceremony by Emily Riccio, a Solstice employee. Boreham was not in attendance because of illness.

“I want to thank those who are here today, our veterans, who despite the risk and sacrifice stepped forward to serve and defend this beautiful country. This includes our active duty service members, guardsmen and reservist, your unselfish service has helped keep our country and its citizens safe and free,” he wrote.

g.smith@theday.com