Beginnings of Veterans Day

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, an armistice was signed in “the war to end all wars.”

ST. CLOUD-AREA VETERANS DAY PARADE

Sunday, November 8, 2009

The 2009 St. Cloud-area Veterans Day Parade, featuring about 40 units, began at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8 on the west side of the St. Cloud (Minn.) VA Medical Center campus and proceeded east across the Avenue of Flags and 44th Avenue, ending in the Apollo High School parking lot — a distance of about half a mile. Following is a video chronicle of the event.

MetroVets Color Guard

VFW Granite Post 428

Vietnam Veterans of America

Disabled American Veterans

St. Cloud VA Hospital

Women in the Military

Blue Star Mothers of America

Veterans of Foreign Wars

Military Order of the Purple Heart

Fighting Saints Army ROTC Battalion

Knights of Columbus

Daughters of the American Revolution

Leighton Broadcasting KNSI 1450 AM

Parade History

The St. Cloud-area Veterans Day Parade and Social was first held in 2007, when Times Media joined forces with the St. Cloud Metrovets, the VA Medical Center, and the City of St. Cloud to create an event for the community to show its collective appreciation for the service and sacrifice of its veterans and active-duty military residents.

Sponsors

The official sponsor was St. Cloud MetroVets. Other major sponsors included Times Media, the VA Medical Center, and the City of St. Cloud. Also helping substantially are Shermock Financial, St. Cloud Lions Club, Short Stop Custom Catering, Eich Motors, and KNSI.

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Related reports on this site

St. Cloud Veterans Day Parade (Oct. 23, 2009)

Veterans Day (Nov. 11, 2008)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — November 11, 2008

Veterans Day

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I posted video from the 2008 St. Cloud-area Veterans Day Parade and featured NBC Today’s “American Story with Bob Dotson” from Arlington National Cemetery, where mothers remembered their veteran sons who made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan.