Veterans Day parade is 1st in a decade in city

11/11/2002

Local soldiers, sailors, airmen, guardsmen, and Marines will button themselves into their old uniforms today for a patriotic Veterans Day parade, the city's first in a decade.

The parade will start at 10 a.m. in front of the Commodore Perry building at Jefferson Avenue and North Superior Street and proceed on Superior to Jackson Street and the Civic Center Mall. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Peace Arch will then be dedicated.

Bob Mettler, executive director of the Lucas County Veterans Service Commission, said heated tents and transportation will be provided to enable elderly or disabled veterans and their families.

Musicians from Libbey and Start high schools will provide the marching tunes; city police and fire units will cruise, and members of area veterans organizations will review their marching skills.

At Jerusalem Elementary School in Curtice, students will gather with the community at 9:15 a.m. today for a flag-raising ceremony by the Christ Dunberger American Legion Post 537 Color Guard. A memorial wreath will be laid at the flagpole while “Taps” is blown.

The Jerusalem Boys Choir will then sing several songs of America in the school gym, and Airman Brenda Moore, the mother of a Jerusalem student who recently returned from Middle East military duty, will address the students.

Other Veterans Day events included a parade Saturday in East Toledo, and dedication of a stretch of I-280 in Wood County as “The Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway.”