Veterans Day Parade to roll without bands

Bedford County's Veterans Day Parade will begin at 6 tonight along the normal parade route. The parade will form at the intersection of Lane Parkway and Cannon Boulevard, proceeding south on Cannon to Holland, east on Holland to the square, north on Main to Madison and then east on Madison to Celebration Drive.

None of the three high school bands will participate. Bedford County School Superintendent Ed Gray told Bedford County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday that the decision was left up to the individual school principals, but that it was difficult to field a band for the parade due to some band members having commitments to Wednesday night church services. Gray said the school system seldom schedules any kind of activity on Wednesday nights.

Bedford County Veterans Service Officer Gordon Warren did not appear completely happy with this explanation.

"We are going to have a parade tomorrow night, with or without the bands," said Warren. He said that as he spoke to one of the principals on the telephone about the situation, a World War II veteran was sitting in his office and overheard Warren's end of the conversation.

"I was in a foxhole many, many Wednesday nights," Warren quoted the World War II veteran as saying.

Veterans Day, originally known as Armistice Day, was chosen to mark the ending of World War I. Germany signed the Armistice at 11:11 on November 11 (11/11), 1918.

The name was changed from "Armistice Day" to "Veterans Day" in 1954, to reflect that the holiday honors all veterans. There is no apostrophe in the formal name of the holiday.

This year's observance comes as local National Guard troops prepare to head to Iraq.

The 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment of the Tennessee National Guard, which includes the guard troops based in Shelbyville and Lewisburg, just completed three weeks of annual training at Camp Shelby, Miss., and will return there on or about Dec. 5 to begin mobilization training. The unit will train for two months at Camp Shelby before its scheduled deployment.

More than 3,300 soldiers from Kingsport in East Tennessee to Henderson in West Tennessee make up the 278th.