Veterans Day, coast to coast
Legionnaires in the nation’s two biggest cities will have the opportunity to take part in either the nation’s largest Veterans Day parade or a similar parade making its debut this year.
The 97th annual “America’s Parade: New York City” will take place Nov. 11 in Manhattan. More than 20,000 participants are expected to join the parade, which features more than 300 marching units, dozens of floats and more than 200 military vehicles in 2015.
Immediately following the conclusion of the New York City parade, the first-ever “America’s Parade: LA” will get under way. The American Legion; Team Red, White and Blue; Vet Hunters Project; The Mission Continues; U.S. Vets and several others veterans organizations will participate in the parade.
The New York City parade gets under way at 11:15 a.m. and will travel up Fifth Avenue between 26th and 52nd streets. It will commemorate the 15th anniversary of 9/11, with special recognition of Afghanistan, Iraq and other post-9/11 veterans, as well as first responders. It will also mark the 25th anniversary of Desert Storm.
The United States Coast Guard is this year’s featured military branch. And this year the parade will have three grand marshals who are post-9/11 veterans and 9/11 first responders: U.S. Army veteran Joe Dugga, U.S. Army veteran Stephanie Dawson and U.S. Marine Corps veteran Nelson Vergara.
In Los Angeles, the parade will start just after 11 a.m. PT on the West L.A. VA campus parking lot 38. The 1-mile route will travel across the campus on Bonsall Avenue, passing a grandstand for attendees just beyond Wilshire Boulevard. At the end of parade in parking lot 6 and 7 there will be entertainment, food and vendors, as well as a veterans resource fair.
Longtime Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, who served in the U.S. Army during World War II and missed the 1946 and 1947 seasons of his professional baseball career because of his service, will be the grand marshal. The parade will commemorate the 15th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
To participate in the New York City parade, email 9-11 Memorial Post 200 in New York City at Parade@AmericanLegion.com. More information about Legion participation in the parade will be found here.
To participate in the Los Angeles parade, click here or email sstone@mva.lacounty.gov.