MANSFIELD — It appears the sun may shine Wednesday on the annual Veterans Day parade and ceremonies in downtown Mansfield.
The parade, coordinated by Richland County Joint Veterans Council, is set to step off at the five-way light at Marion Avenue and Park Avenue West at 10:30 a.m.
Weather forecasters are calling for highs in the 50s on Wednesday under sunny or partly cloudy skies. Last year’s event was moved to AMVETS Post 26, 1100 W. Fourth St., when temps were in the mid 30s and winds gusting up to nearly 30 miles per hour.
In 2022, the parade was also moved indoors to the AMVETS due to expected heavy rain.
This year’s parade will move east to the square downtown. A program is scheduled there immediately after the parade in Central Park at the gazebo.
This year’s speaker is Robert Mason, American Legion Department of Ohio historian.
Mason, a longtime Carey resident and active member of the American Legion, continues to serve veteran organizations across north central Ohio through administrative leadership and historical preservation.
Mason is a member and past commander of American Legion Earl Green Post 344 in Carey.
During decades of involvement with the veterans’ organization, he has held leadership roles at the local, district, and state levels, including serving as commander of the American Legion Department of Ohio’s 5th District and as the department’s appointed historian.
In his role as department historian, Mason has worked to document and preserve the organizational history of Ohio posts, compile annual scrapbooks and post records, and assist with veteran recognition programs across Wyandot County and surrounding communities.
His responsibilities have included tracking membership milestones, coordinating regional conventions, and preserving records detailing local veteran contributions from World War I through modern conflicts.
Mason has also frequently represented Post 344 during regional Legion events, Memorial Day observances, and civic ceremonies throughout northwest and north central Ohio, emphasizing post documentation, flag etiquette and the preservation of military service records for area families.
Also on Veterans Day, The Ohio State University at Mansfield will commemorate the event with the second of two free staged readings of an abridged version of Cato, a tragedy about the end of the Roman Republic that inspired the leaders of the American Revolution.
It’s the same play U.S. Gen. George Washington ordered performed for the Continental Army following the brutal winter at Valley Forge. The drama explores liberty, duty, honor and the responsibilities of leadership.
The first performance was Sunday afternoon in Founders Auditorium, which is also where it will be offered Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. An audience discussions will follow the performance. Admission is free, and tickets are not required. More information can be found at mansfield.osu.edu/theatre.
“It makes sense that General Washington would order a performance of this play for his soldiers during the winter at Valley Forge. It was a dark time for the Continental Army,” said Joseph Fahey, professor of theatre at Ohio State Mansfield and director of the theatre program.
“Washington connected deeply with the ideas of this play, with its recognition of the high cost of freedom and the consequences of abandoning one’s responsibility to future generations. I think we are called to hear these words today just as much as those men from nearly 250 years ago,” Fahey said.
RELATED COVERAGE OF VETERANS DAY IN RICHLAND COUNTY
What are the origins of Veterans Day?
It began as Armistice Day in 1919, declared by President Woodrow Wilson, marking the end of World War I on Nov. 11, 1918.
The armistice signed between Allied forces and Germany concluded the major hostilities of World War I, capping a conflict so catastrophic that many believed humanity had witnessed “the war to end all wars.”
Wilson designated Nov. 11 as a national day of pause to honor those who served and sacrificed across the Atlantic.
“To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations,” Wilson proclaimed to the nation in November 1919.
Congress formalized the observance in 1938, declaring Nov. 11 a legal federal holiday dedicated to world peace.
Yet lasting peace remained elusive. Within decades, millions of American men and women were called overseas once more to confront global tyranny in World War II and defend sovereign borders in the Korean War.
Recognizing the holiday should reflect every generation called into uniform, Raymond Weeks, a World War II veteran from Birmingham, Ala., launched a movement to expand Armistice Day into an all-encompassing celebration for every military veteran.
In June 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower signed legislation striking the word “Armistice” and officially replacing it with “Veterans Day.”
“In order to insure proper and widespread observance of this anniversary, all veterans, all veterans’ organizations, and the entire citizenry will wish to join hands in the common purpose,” Eisenhower declared in his proclamation later that year, calling on citizens to “solemnly remember the sacrifices of all those who fought so valiantly, on the seas, in the air, and on foreign shores, to preserve our heritage of freedom.”
Unlike Memorial Day in May, which somberly pays tribute to those who gave their lives in uniform, Veterans Day honors all American service members — living and dead, in peacetime and in war — who accepted the duty of safeguarding the nation.
Through shifting eras and changing battlefields, the observance remains anchored by a presidential wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. The ceremony serves as an enduring reminder that national security is sustained by individual willingness to serve.
President Ronald Reagan spoke to that enduring principle during an address at Arlington in 1985, articulating the foundational debt owed by the nation.
“Most of them were boys when they died, and they gave up two lives: the one they were living and the one they would have lived,” Reagan said.
“We remember those who were called upon to give all a person could give, and we remember those who were prepared to make that sacrifice if they were called upon, and we remember each of them with all our hearts,” Reagan said.
