Details released on Wilson County Veterans Day parade, ceremony
By Staff Reports -
Wilson County will celebrate Veterans Day on Saturday with the annual parade at 10 a.m. and ceremony at 11 a.m. at Wilson County Veterans Plaza in Lebanon.
Sunday will mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I as the nation celebrates Veterans Day.
Wilson County’s Veterans Day parade will start Saturday at 10 a.m. at South Hatton Street next to the Lebanon Public Library. Organizers said this year’s parade lineup will be bigger than in previous years and includes bands from Cumberland University, Watertown High School, Lebanon High School and Wilson Central High School.
Joe Maggart will be the parade’s grand marshal. Maggart enlisted in the Air Force in April 1966 in the Strategic Air Command 91st Bombardier Wing. In June 1975, he enlisted in the Tennessee Army National Guard in the 3rd 109th Armor Division. He enlisted in the Army Reserve in 1978 and was in the 401 Military Police Unit. In September 1980, he enlisted in the Tennessee Air National Guard 118th Security Squadron. He retired in 2006 as a chief master sergeant.
The parade will proceed east on West Main Street, continue through the Lebanon Square and end at the Wilson County Veterans Plaza next to the Wilson County Courthouse, where a Veterans Day program will start at 11 a.m.
American Legion Post 15 Commander Pete Norman will welcome master of ceremonies Jim Harding. Bethany Luttrell, of Watertown, will sing the national anthem. Bob Haley will introduce Gold Star families, and military veterans will be recognized with service songs and posting of flags. Various groups will lay wreaths to honor fallen veterans, which will be followed by a 21-gun salute and “Taps.”
Prior to the laying of wreaths, a video presentation that will feature local veterans Lucius Agee, Terry Ashe, Jack Cato, Jeff Joines and Dorothy Ruth will be shown.
In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Nov. 11 as Armistice Day to remind Americans of the tragedies of war. In 1954, federal law changed the name to Veterans Day, which honors all men and women who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces.
history veterans day Wilson County Veterans Plaza