Introduction
Each year on the Saturday closest to
November 11, Veterans Day, an hour
long parade, the
Clarksville-Montgomery County
Veterans Day Parade is held in
Downtown Clarksville, Tennessee.
This is our report on the 2012
edition of this impressive event.
Veterans Day is an annual and
official United States holiday on
which people who served in the Armed
Forces are honored.
It is held on each November 11th and
coincides with comparable
commemoration days in other parts of
the world such as Armistice Day and
Remembrance Day which, like Veterans
Day all remember the end of the
First World War.
Until 1954 Veterans Day was named
Armistice Day in the United States.
It was President Woodrow Wilson who
initiated Armistice Day in 1919
which became a national holiday in
1938.
Battle Detective
Tom enjoying the
Clarksville-Montgomery County
Veterans Day Parade on Third Street.
Photo courtesy of Robert Smith of
the Leaf Chronicle.
Veterans Day
Although originally scheduled for
celebration on November 11 of every
year, starting in 1971 in accordance
with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act,
Veterans Day was moved to the fourth
Monday of October.
Several veterans organizations
protested against this and
subsequently since 1978, Veterans
Day is observed on each 11th of
November. While the legal holiday
remains on November 11, if that date
happens to be on a Saturday or
Sunday, then organizations that
formally observe the holiday will be
closed on the adjacent Friday or
Monday, respectively.
This year, November 11th was on a
Sunday and most public offices,
museums and schools were closed, the
next day. That Monday, November
12th, we found a locked door at the
Tennessee State Museum’s Military
Branch in Nashville when we wanted
to visit the permanent display of
Sergeant York’s uniform and a
temporary exhibition about the
location in the Argonne Forest where
he earned his Medal of Honor.
Of course we went back the next day
and a report on these exhibitions
can be seen in the updates in
Battle Study # 19.
click to enlarge:
Veterans Day 2012
This year too, on Saturday November
10th 2012, a large parade was
organized in Clarksville, Tennessee.
We took our positions on the steps
of the courthouse on Third Street
near the dignitaries.
Because we had witnessed the start
of the parade on the corner of Eight
and College Streets, we were just in
time to hear the closing remarks of
Montgomery County Mayor Carolyn P.
Bowers‘ speech.
A wreath laying ceremony followed
and a Color Guard of the 101st
Airborne Division (Air Assault)
retreated the colors at the
reviewing stand.
Among the dignitaries we met were
former mayor of Clarksville, Ted A.
Crozier Sr. and Deputy Chief Michael
Parr of the Clarksville Police
Department.
Ted Crozier introduced us to Philip
Grey, a veteran of the Viet Nam War
who served in the 502nd Infantry
regiment of the 101st. Only later we
learned that Grey is also a reporter
for The Leaf Chronicle because we
were
featured in his article in the
Veteran’s Day issue of Tennessee’s
oldest newspaper.
click to enlarge:
Start of the
parade on Eight and College Streets Speech and wreath
laying by Mayor Bowers Deputy Police
Chief Parr and former Mayor Crozier
Parade
The parade was spearheaded by patrol
units of the Montgomery County
Sheriff’s Office, followed by
several emergency vehicles from
Clarksville, Woodlawn and other
towns in Montgomery County, all
using their sirens and bull horns.
After this loud introduction every
high school in the county with their
Junior Reserve Officer Training
Center (JROTC) details and marching
bands marched by the reviewing
stand.
We saw several motor cycle clubs,
Veterans of Foreign War posts, other
veterans and local organizations,
Boy Scout packs and Girl Scout
troops pass by.
Republican State Senate candidate
Mark Green ran the entire parade,
handing out American flags to parade
spectators.
There was Lesleigh Stanfill, elected
Miss Austin Peay State University
2013 exactly one week before the
parade. We saw our friend Joseph
Bossi, Honorary Command Sergeant
Mayor in the 327th Infantry Regiment
ride by in a modern military
vehicle. Joe has been our military
advisor in cases like
Battle Study #13.
The rear guard of the parade was
formed by patrol units of the
Clarksville Police Department.
Battle Detective Tom was featured in
the Clarksville LeafChronicle's
website:
click to enlarge:
[../photogallery/photo00008561/real_p.htm]
Flag Raising Ceremony at Customs
House Museum
After the parade Ted Crozier invited
us to the flag raising ceremony and
other functions in and around the
Customs House Museum on South Second
Street.
Sponsored by the Kiwanis of
Clarksville's Service & Sacrifice
Committee, celebrations here were
opened with the Pledge of
Allegiance, the raising of the
American flag and the firing of
volleys of M1 Garand rounds by a
United States Marine Corps detail.
Master of ceremonies was Tom Creech,
President-elect of the Kiwanis and
owner at the McReynolds-Nave-Larson
Funeral Home on Madison Street.
click to enlarge:
Pledge of
Allegiance and US Marine Corps rifle
volley and bugle player Raising of the
Star Bangled Banner Photographer on
roof of the LeafChronicle 'shot' the
whole ceremony
Lecture, Choir and Interview
w/20th Armored Veteran
Events honoring American veterans
continued inside the museum’s
auditorium where Dr. Dewey A.
Browder of the Department of History
& Philosophy at Austin Peay State
University in Clarksville held a
lecture on the importance of
civil-military relations.
The Phi Mu Alpha Music Fraternity,
directed by Tom King, sang patriotic
songs after which two World War Two
Veterans from Clarksville took the
stand.
US Marine Lynn Hunter interviewed
his friend SSGT Max Ernst of "D"
Company, 9th Tank Battalion of the
20th Armored Division.
Max had earned the Silver Star Medal
for cutting demolition wires under a
bridge in Southern Germany on the
26th of April 1945.
With the help of several period
photographs projected on a huge
screen, Max answered Lynn's
questions about entering the Army,
Camp Campbell, combat and learning
about the Nazi death camp of Dachau,
liberated by elements of Max's 20th
Armored Division.
click to enlarge:
Lynn Hunter
interviewing Max Ernst
After the interview a group photo
was made with US Marine Lynn Hunter,
20th Armored Veteran Max Ernst, COL
Ted A. "Wild Turkey" Crozier Sr. and
LTG Hubert "Hugh" G. Smith in front
of a gigantic American flag in the
style of the 1970 movie "Patton".
The celebration ended with a coffee
social hour in the museum's
cafeteria.
It also marks the closing of our
report of this typical American
event, commemorating the heroes of
this country.
