NEW ORLEANS — The U.S. Coast Guard participated in a Veterans Day parade in the city’s celebration of military appreciation in downtown, Saturday.
Coast Guardsmen from the 8th Coast Guard District and servicemembers from the other four military services marched for more than two miles with a group a recruits for all five services, who took an oath to defend the Constitution in a group ceremony.
The event honored the veterans of all U.S. wars along with the celebration of the the bicentennial of the statehood of Louisiana. More than 1,000 people participated in the parade, which featured the Washington, D.C. Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps in Revolutionary War era costumes, which are seen at Presidential Inaugurations. The parade went through the French Quarter and Warehouse District and ended at the National World War II Museum.
Distinguished guests such as U.S. Sen Mary Landrieu, D-La., New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and Lt. Gen Steven Hummer, commander, Marine Forces Reserve and Marine Forces North, attended the event.
Veterans Day commemorates the temporary cessation of hostilities between the Allies and Germany following the end of World War I on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. The original concept for the celebration had a day observed with parades and public meetings and a brief suspension of business at 11 a.m.
