This year is a very important year, not only for veterans and their families, but for all of us as citizens of this great nation.

We commemorate not only the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII, but also the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Vietnam War. Our veteran’s community has come together and has become very active over the past few years. This year will be our third year in organizing our annual Veterans Day Parade. Every year we alternate our parade between Natchez and Vidalia so this year we are back in Natchez after a very successful parade in Vidalia last year.

Our Grand Marshall for the parade will be a departure from the norm. Our veterans from the “Greatest Generation” are leaving us at rapid pace so this year we want to commemorate, honor, and thank those veterans of WWII by having every veteran of that war as our Grand Marshalls. If you have one of these treasures in your midst please let us know.

We will provide assistance to get each and every veteran of WWII into our Veterans Day Parade and, by all means, please come to our parade to honor these heroes and demonstrate a bit of patriotism, as well. It is incredibly important for us as adults and veterans to teach others and our children the importance of fostering Americanism and Patriotism in our communities. The citizens of our communities are always encouraged and welcome to attend and be a part of all of the many celebrations that we have every year, from Memorial Day through the Wreaths Across America in December. It’s a good opportunity to bring your children to teach them how it came to be that they are so free. What we do as veterans isn’t just for us. In fact, it has very little to do with us. Instilling the importance of the freedoms that we fought for into our communities is what we still fight for.

The Parade is Sunday, November 8th, at 2 p.m. The parade will assemble on North Broadway Street, travel up Main Street to Union Street, over to Franklin and will terminate at Canal Street, where the Boy Scouts of Natchez will conduct a Flag Retirement Ceremony, at 3:30 p.m., next to the convention center. Our Boy Scouts have done an incredible job conducting this ceremony for the past several years, with the helpful hand of Ricky Warren.

The Miss-Lou Veterans Coalition Honor Guard will lead the parade and will represent all veterans organizations in our area to include American Legion Posts 4 & 228 of Natchez, AL Post 590 of Vidalia, VFW Post 9574 of Natchez, Home With Heroes, Operation G.R.I.T.S. and the Miss-Lou Veterans Coalition.

All entries for the parade are free of charge, although we will be having a float competition with a small entry fee. For information on the parade, entries, and float competitors contact Marianne Violette at 601-442-3109 or email mviolette@live.com.

 

Rodney Violette is the chairman of the Miss-Lou Veterans Coalition and commander of the MLVC Honor Guard.