The crowd rose as one to its feet — just about the time the sun briefly popped out from behind some clouds, too — when children from both the Carlos Gilbert and Acequia Madre elementary school choirs sang "God Bless America" during the city's Veterans Day ceremony Friday morning.

More than 300 people gathered to honor military veterans in a roughly 90-minute ceremony that took place outside the Bataan Memorial Building on Galisteo Street. The event followed on the heels of the annual Veterans Day Parade, which started at Fire Station No. 1 near Bishops Lodge Road and continued into and around the Plaza before ending at the Bataan building.

The various speakers — most of whom are either still-active military members or veterans — spoke of honoring those who demonstrate courage and patriotism by serving in the armed forces.

Michael Peters, president of St. John's College and a retired Army colonel, gave the keynote address, dedicating much of it to literature commemorating veterans. He read from Canadian officer John McCrae's World War I poem, "In Flanders Fields," and Rudyard Kipling's poem "Tommy" as examples of works written to draw attention to the human cost associated with war.

Peters also quoted passages from Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Gettysburg Address, in which the president spoke to the sacrifices being made by soldiers fighting in the Civil War: "We cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced."

The memorial began with a posting of the colors by color guards from the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force, the singing of the national anthem by New Mexico Army National Guard Spc. Quentin Dorn, and an invocation by Deacon Enrique Montoya of St. Anne's Parish.

Among a string of speeches, awards and prayers, Mayor David Coss read a proclamation honoring veterans by Gov. Susan Martinez, while Alan Martinez, deputy secretary for the state's Department of Veterans' Services, paid homage to two elderly veterans in the crowd: Casimir Stevens, who served in the Navy from 1938-46 and survived the attack on Pearl Harbor; and Edwardo L. Duran, who served in the Army in both World War II and Korea from 1944-52.

Veterans Day originated as an honoring of Armistice Day — Nov. 18, 1918, the end of World War I — known as the "War to End All Wars." In 1938, Nov. 11 became a legal holiday called Armistice Day honoring World War I veterans. In 1954, the holiday was legally amended and renamed Veterans Day to honor all veterans.

World War I's conflict ceased at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, and the governor's proclamation, as read by the mayor, noted that Friday's event was symbolic in terms of taking place on 11/11/11.

Merlin Kanpher, who at 85 is still able to neatly fit into his U.S. Navy uniform from the 1940s, was smiling with pride — in uniform — throughout the ceremony. "People are a little more cognizant of the contribution of veterans today," he said.

The parade itself drew about 100 enthusiastic supporters on the Plaza, including Cathi Haga and her dog, Lily (whose bandana was colored red, white and blue). Haga, a caregiver, said one of her clients is the widow of a Bataan Death March survivor. That connection has "made me more patriotic," she said.

Still, she expressed disappointment that the crowd along the parade route was not larger.

"It's not exactly like the pet parade in terms of attendance, is it?" she asked with a tone of sadness in her voice.

According to the Department of Veterans' Services, there are some 176,566 veterans in the state.

Contact Robert Nott at 986-3021 or rnott@sfnewmexican.com.