Veterans Day celebrations: dog tags and parades to represent the nation’s pride in those who have served

The country prepared Friday for a weekend of events honoring those who wore the uniform, culminating in the observance of Veterans Day on Nov. 11. However, some parades have been canceled due to weather, safety concerns or lack of interest.

Traditional Veterans Day parades are making a comeback as many have been canceled during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Colorado Veterans Project and the city of Denver announced Thursday that the 11th annual Denver Veterans Day parade has been canceled due to snow.

For the second time, the Veterans Day Parade in Raleigh, North Carolina, has been canceled due to organizers and the city failing to agree on traffic restrictions after a young girl died in a car accident at the 2022 parade.

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The Rolla Chamber of Commerce in Rolla, Missouri, announced Thursday that the “low number of parade participants” forced the decision to cancel the Veterans Appreciation Parade scheduled for Saturday.

For the third time in five years, the annual Veterans Day Parade in Fort Myers, Florida had to be canceled. Tony Neal, commander of the American Legion’s Raven O. Wilkison Post 38, told the Fort Myers News-Press that recent hurricanes have made it impossible to organize the parade.

Despite occasional cancellations, hundreds of other parades, concerts and other activities honoring the nation’s roughly 18 million veterans took place across the country over the weekend and on Veterans Day.

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In addition to their primary purpose of honoring veterans, some of the events also had a theme. Monday’s California Veterans Day ceremony at the California State Capitol in Sacramento will feature a parade and speakers who will focus on mental health awareness.

In Hawaii, the Oahu Veterans Council organized a ceremony Monday that included a wreath-laying ceremony, a rifle salute and a hula performance.

In Bellville, Ohio, the American Legion Post 535 legion family will visit a local nursing home to visit veterans living there and provide food packages to veterans in need.

In Washington, D.C., the nonprofit National Veterans Parade Foundation organized a parade along Constitution Avenue on Sunday that will feature the U.S. Marine Drum and Bugle Corps and the Howard University Marching Band.

In Manhattan, the parade organized by the United War Veterans Council, considered the largest in the country, was expected to include nearly 300 marching and vehicle units and up to 20,000 demonstrators.

All parades and other activities were intended to honor and recognize those who served in the military and “shined the light of freedom throughout the world.” Just as they have maintained the ultimate faith in our nation, we must maintain the ultimate faith in them,” President Joe Biden said in his White House proclamation issued Wednesday to mark Veterans Day 2024.

In keeping with Biden’s statement, the humble dog tag was chosen this year to represent the shared identity of generations of service members who put duty to country first.

The Department of Veterans Affairs National Veterans Day Committee has selected a design for the National Veterans Day poster designed by former Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Myisha Godette with dog tags to symbolize the theme of this year’s holiday: “A Legacy of Loyalty and Service.”

“Ultimately, I chose to symbolize the shared experience of service members – past, present and future – with elements such as the American flag, military dog ​​tags and the enduring strength of veterans, embodied within me by a solid, dark concrete background “design,” Godette said in a Veterans Affairs press release.

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