Those who served and did not come home, and those who did, will be remembered by residents of Biddeford and Saco on Veterans Day on Nov. 11 and in the lead-up to that solemn day.

Veterans Day was created as Armistice Day following World War 1. In 1954 President Dwight D. Eisenhower proclaimed that Veterans Day would henceforth include American veterans of all wars.

Biddeford Historical Society will honor those first American veterans — those who served in the War of Independence from 1776 to 1783 — on Sunday, Nov. 7, with a Veterans Remembrance Day ceremony at 11 a.m. at First Parish Meetinghouse, 7 Meetinghouse Road. The ceremonies include a welcome, a remembrance of those from Biddeford who fought for America’s independence, including a presentation by keynote speaker Karl Lamson, with “Josiah Black, the Life of a Maine Soldier.” AMVETS Post 1 will host the posting of the colors and of flags for the occasion, along with Boy Scout Troops 308 of Biddeford and 310 of Saco. The Alumni Band of Southern Maine will play.

Biddeford and Saco will come together for an 11 a.m. ceremony on Nov. 11 on the lawn at Thornton Academy.

Keynote speaker for the event is Molly Lovell-Keely, communications and marketing manager at the Travis Mills Foundation.

“Every day I’m inspired by the Foundation’s mission and the veterans we serve, especially our founder, SSG Travis Mills, who lost portions of his limbs in an IED explosion while serving in Afghanistan,” Lovell-Keely said in an email to organizers.

Lovell-Keely, a former reporter and editor of the Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier, and a 2000 Biddeford High School graduate, will also speak about her class members who joined the military one year before Sept. 11, 2001.

Also on Nov. 11, to honor those who served, Biddeford Mills Museum invites military veterans to join them for cake and coffee. The museum is a at 2 Main St., Building 18, Suite 108. The museum is open from noon to 4 p.m.

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