No frills: A Veterans Day to honor those who served
What: Duluth Veteran's Day Events
When: Parade, 9 a.m. today
Where: Begins at Former Duluth Armory, 14 Avenue East and London Road., along London Road, Superior Street to Sixth Avenue West, ending at the Depot.
Duluth Veteran's Day Observation at the Depot, 10:50 a.m.
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There won't be decorated floats or Tootsie Rolls tossed toward children on the sidewalks. The parade in Duluth today will be "strictly for veterans" and their supporters, as veterans' activist Durbin Keeney explained this week.
But don't let that dissuade anyone from attending the first march of its kind in Duluth since the end of World War II. Then, the parade snaked from Duluth's old armory on London Road to the Union Depot train station on Michigan Street - the same route so many military members had followed before heading off to places like Korea or the South Pacific.
In the late 1940s, the parades ended. "The war was over and everyone went back to whatever they were hoping to do," Keeney said.
Until now. Expected to follow the same route today will be veterans and active-duty military members from the U.S. Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, Air Force, and the guards and reserves.
Just after 9 a.m., led by the Duluth Honor Guard, they'll march in a single lane of traffic to the Depot where the city's annual Veterans' Day observance will take place. This year, the ceremony features guest speaker Col. Mark R. Johnson of Duluth's 148th Fighter Wing and master of ceremonies Mayor Herb Bergson.
On the sidelines ought to be hundreds, even thousands, of Duluthians. No, there won't be floats or candy, but instead the need for respect and honor. And not only for the veterans who'll be marching, but for those who no longer can march because of combat injuries or because they'd made the ultimate sacrifice, for all of us.
