Veterans Day events in the Boston area

SAUL LOEB

Boston and surrounding cities and towns will join others across the country Tuesday in celebrating the 60th annual Veterans Day.

“It gives us an opportunity to pause and remember all the sacrifices that were made by ordinary citizens who did extraordinary things to defend our country,” said Bryan Bishop, chief of staff of the city’s Department of Veterans’ Services.

“It’s a celebration, yet a solemn occasion just to come together as veterans, the leadership of the Commonwealth, the leadership of the city,” Bishop said.

Veterans Day was initially celebrated as Armistice Day beginning in 1919, one year after the armistice that ended World War I went into effect, according to the US Department of Veterans Affairs website. In 1954, it was officially renamed Veterans Day.

“So if someone were to ask me what Veterans Day is all about,” Bishop said, “it’s basically about people who have stood up and sworn an oath to defend this country and all we hold dear.”

Below is a list of events held in and around Boston for Veterans Day:

Boston

■   Governor Deval Patrick will attend the State House Veterans Commemoration Ceremony at 10 a.m., according to his public schedule. Hosted by the Massachusetts Department of Veterans’ Services and the department’s secretary, Coleman Nee, the ceremony will be held in Memorial Hall. Massachusetts National Guard Adjutant General Major General L. Scott Rice will deliver the keynote address. Treasurer Steve Grossman plans to attend a reception before the event.

■   At 1 p.m., Patrick is scheduled to make an announcement regarding veterans’ health care at the Sherman Center at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester.

■   At 6 p.m., the fifth annual Veterans Walk and Run, supported by Back On My Feet and the New England Center for Homeless Veterans will be held. The 2-mile run begins at City Hall Plaza and will loop Boston Common before ending at the Center for Homeless Veterans at 17 Court St., where dinner will be served. Registration is $35. Participants can sign up online or at the event.

■  Franklin Park Zoo and Stone Zoo will offer free admission to veterans and active military service members on Tuesday; Texas Roadhouse restaurant chain will give veterans a free meal during lunchtime hours.

■  And, beginning Tuesday, all eight locations of Mahoney’s Garden Center will participate in Trees for Troops, a charity that allows customers to buy Christmas trees for $30 that will then be sent to the base of military personnel or to the families of personnel deployed overseas.

■   Framingham will hold a ceremony beginning at 11 a.m. with a wreath-laying at Cushing General Hospital’s flagpole, followed by a program in Cushing Memorial Chapel.

■   Newton’s celebration will begin with a donation drive and children’s activities at 10 a.m. at American Legion Post 440 on California Street, followed by a ceremony at 11:11 a.m. Mayor Setti D. Warren is expected to attend to honor 10 veterans with ties to Newton.

■   Wellesley will hold a ceremony at Town Hall beginning at 10:55 a.m., where several veterans will speak or read.

■   Needham will hold a ceremony at Memorial Park, at the intersection of Highland Avenue and Rosemary Street, at 10:50 a.m

■   Waltham’s Veterans’ Services and the Allied Veterans’ Council will hold their annual services and brick dedication at the Circle of Remembrance at 11 a.m. At 10:30 a.m., there will also be a dedication of “Wally’s Way” on the Common in remembrance of Walter E. Hoyt Jr.

■   Brookline will hold a ceremony at the World War monument on Washington Street, across from Town Hall, at 11 a.m.

■   Somerville’s Allied Veterans’ Council will hold the Veterans Day ceremony at the Dilboy VFW Post on Summer Street at 10 a.m. Alderman Matt McLaughlin is expected to present citations to 29 Somerville post-9/11 veterans.

■   The Cambridge Veterans’ Organization, in conjunction with the Department of Veterans’ Services, will hold an observance at the Veterans’ World War I monument on Coolidge Avenue at 11 a.m. A wreath will be laid at the monument and Mayor David P. Maher is expected to speak.

■   Quincy will hold its Veterans’ Council Veterans Day Parade and Ceremonies at 10 a.m. The parade will begin at Scammell Street and Quincy Avenue, proceed down Hancock Street, and end at Adams Academy, where the ceremony will be held.

■   Milton’s parade will begin at the high school about 10:30 a.m., then continue down Canton Avenue to the Town Hall for an observance set to begin at 11 a.m.