.Alameda County Veterans Affairs Commission

Parade News Magazine  - Special Online Edition - November 2000

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: OCTOBER 20, 2000

Contact:	Mark R. Chandler - Vice Chairman, VIP Coordinator	P (510) 208-7630 F (510) 763-7638
	John Lingar - Parade Coordinator	P (510) 763-1772

"HONORING ALL WHO SERVED"

 The Alameda County Veterans Affairs Commission and the city of Fremont, CA USA will host this year's Veterans Day Parade on Saturday, November 11, 2000 in the city of Fremont, California. The co-hosts will be the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Bank of Fremont. This parade will mark the 47th consecutive year that a city in Alameda County has been designated as a regional observance site by the Department of Veterans Affair's National Veterans Day Committee. "The blessings of peace that we enjoy today are the results of the sacrifice, strength and service of our veterans. Generation after generation, courageous men and women have fulfilled the highest duty to this nation by proudly serving in the Armed Forces. To those who have followed our nation's calling, we owe a supreme debt of gratitude." Governor Gray Davis.  The public is encouraged to come out and show their respect and appreciation for our men and women in uniform, and to "Honor All Who Served."

The actual Veterans Day activities will commence on Friday, November 10 at 6:00 P. M. with a VIP pre-parade dinner to be held at the Fremont Senior Citizen Building located  in the city of Fremont. On Saturday, November 11, a continental breakfast will be served between the hours of 8:00 and 9:30 A.M. in the Fremont City Council facilities.

The reviewing stand will be located at Paseo Padre Parkway and Bayles Street along the Swim Lagoon.  The parade will start promptly at 11:00 A.M. from Civic Center and travel along Paseo Padre Parkway, past the reviewing stand.

The parade will be led by a number of distinguished Grand Marshals with a special appearance  by entertainer, actress, author Nancy Sinatra, a dedicated supporter of our veterans. As described by Lee Hazelwood, "Nancy is quiet and noisy, square but hip;" a performer who became the ideal, the girl to come home to. She was a favorite pin-up girl for the GIs on the battlefield and the ships. Nancy made several trips to Vietnam during the war to entertain our troops and is an honorary member of the San Mateo Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 464.  We are also honored to have CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR recipient, Major James A. Taylor, USA Ret. as our Grand Marshall. Past California state president, Jack Ottovich, is representing the Military Order of the Purple Heart.  Presidential Representative for the event will be Mr. Don Stout, Regional Director of the Veterans Administration. Military representative will be Captain Larry Mizell, USCG, Coast Guard Island. Glen M. Halsey, Chief of Veterans Services Division will represent the California Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

 KRON Channel 4's Tom Sinkovitz, Vietnam veteran and former AFVN Radio announcer in Vietnam, part of the "Good Morning Vietnam" fame, will be the Veterans Day Parade announcer. A special flyover will be performed by none other than Milo Tichaececk, the talented pilot who flies the vintage, Steerman bi-planes over the Bay Area with a variety of advertising. Milo will fly a banner honoring our veterans at precisely 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, the morning of the parade.

Other special guests will be Bea Bushnell, the wife of an MIA shot down over North Vietnam in 1972 and Holocaust Survivor, and disabled Army Veteran, Aiyzk Nittenberg. City officials from the host city of Fremont and surrounding cities in Alameda County will be participating along with Alameda County supervisors, Congressional representatives and school officials. The main parade contingency will include school bands, patriotic floats, marching veterans organizations, and historic flag displays by Bay Area's Martin Francis, a patriotic San Leandro resident who has been displaying historic American flags at parades and veteran's ceremonies for over twenty years. As a special treat, a group of patriotic and dedicated men and women will don period costumes to represent theWW I veterans and the WW I era. The group has been donating their participation for over 20 years. Driving "horseless Carriages" the group will transport living WW I veterans in the parade. The group is led by Ed Archer.