Kimmswick will hold a Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Parade for a second straight year.
The parade, which is open to all military veterans to participate in, will start at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 28, at Windsor Elementary School, 6003 Sixth St. Participants will begin lining up for the parade at about 10 a.m.
The city along with Meramec-Arnold Elks Lodge 2372 held the parade for the first time last year on March 29, which is designated Vietnam War Veterans Day. The last U.S. personnel was evacuated from Vietnam in 1975 after the U.S. Military Assistance Command was disestablished on March 29, 1973.
Phil Stang, one of the parade’s organizers and former Kimmswick mayor, said approximately 500 people attended the event last year. He said he expects more people to come this year.
“I think the place will be packed,” he said. “We have had more time to publicize it. There have been flyers up at every store around here, and people have gone to places outside the city to post flyers. It is a celebratory atmosphere, thanking people for their service.”
Parade participants will exit the school’s parking lot onto High Street, and then the procession will turn right onto Fifth Street. The parade will then take a left onto Beckett, right onto Fourth Street and left onto Market Street.
The procession will continue on Market Street before turning left onto Front Street and then left onto Vine Street, which the parade participants will continue on until returning to Windsor Elementary.
“The majority of the people who come to watch the parade will be at the park on Fifth Street and along Market Street,” Stang said.
Stang said the parade will be led by members of three Elks Lodges’ motorcycle auxiliaries, which will be followed by a Rock Community Fire Protection District truck.
He said he will walk with Revolutionary War reenactors, and the procession also will include an honor guard that supports disabled veterans, members of the Elks, the Kimmswick Historical Society’s float, the city’s antique tractor and float, antique military vehicles and a trolley from Nobleshire Carriages of Millstadt, Ill., which is provided by the Kimmswick Merchants Association.
“All veterans are invited, if they wish to be in it, they can walk with us,” Stang said. “It is a brotherhood and sisterhood of all veterans.”
The grand marshal of this year’s parade will be the 1,573 people who are still considered missing in action since the conclusion of the Vietnam War. Last year, the grand marshal was the 58,220 people who didn’t come back from Vietnam.
“I think it is critically important,” Stang said to honor those who did not return from the war. “One of the statements that is always made in reference to veterans and people who have given the ultimate sacrifice is that they will never be forgotten. It is so important around the Vietnam War because those who went and served their country basically received no homecoming. If they did receive a homecoming, it was negative.”
Stang said it takes about 30 minutes for the participants to complete the parade route. He said the town’s restaurants and shops will be open, and food trucks will be available for people to purchase food and drinks.
“I’m very excited,” he said of the parade. “We have had a lot of interest, and people who were not able to be in it before said they want to be in it this time. I think it is going to grow.”
For information, go to cityofkimmswick.org.