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Three separate Veterans Day celebrations will be held by the Demopolis High School JROTC, the Heart of Marengo Chamber of Commerce and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3577 on Nov. 8, Nov. 9 and Nov. 12 respectively.

The JROTC will host their program at the DHS gym from 10-11 a.m. The River City Blue will perform, veteran Cory McCormick will be the guest speaker and the JROTC will conduct a flag-folding ceremony.

JROTC Instructor and retired Army Col. Larry Hearn said the program will remind attendees that “freedom isn’t free.”

“The purpose of this event is to pause to recognize the service and sacrifices that veterans have made for this country.”

The Heart of Marengo Chamber of Commerce will host their second annual Veteran’s Day Parade, which will take place at 1 p.m. in downtown Linden.

Decorated floats, horse riders, motorcycles, UTV’s, golf carts, the University of West Alabama marching band and surrounding high school’s marching bands will all participate in the parade, which organizer Kim Duhe said will last approximately an hour.

The only guidelines for the parade are that ATV’s are not allowed and the deadline to register by calling Duhe at 985-817-0395 is Oct. 29.

“It’s going to be a lot bigger than it was last year,” Duhe said.

Following the parade, the Heart of Marengo will host a program outside the Marengo County Courthouse with a skit by the Canebrake Players, a performance of the national anthem and a guest speaker. The singer and speaker will both be announced at a later date.

“It means the world to them—even the young ones—that the sacrifice they made is appreciated,” Duhe said of the veterans that these activities will honor.

The VFW Post 5377, along with the Boy Scout Troop 41, the crew of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Wedge and the JROTC, will host a flag retirement ceremony at the Bryan W. Whitfield Memorial Hospital courtyard from 11 a.m. to noon, with refreshments following. The ceremony will also include a guest speaker who will be announced at a later date.

The Demopolis Coast Guard will also honor any Vietnam War veterans who were not present at the ceremony they held at the Coplin Building on Oct. 5.

Post Surgeon Phillip Spence said of veterans, “It’s important we keep their memory alive to be grateful of the freedom we enjoy every day.”

(This article originally appeared in the Wednesday, October 24 issue of the Demopolis Times.)