Four Freedoms Veterans Parade set for Saturday | Events

The Four Freedoms Veterans Parade is scheduled for Saturday, November 10 at 2:30 p.m. on Riverside Drive.  The annual event is once again being hosted by the River City Thunderbolt Military Vehicle Collectors Club to honor area veterans.  This year the Co-Grand Marshals for the Parade will be Major General R. Martin Umbarger and the Company D (Ranger) 151st Airborne Infantry Association Inc.

Major General R. Martin Umbarger was appointed as The Adjutant General, Indiana National Guard on 11 March 2004. As The Adjutant General, General Umbarger's primary focus is to lead the Indiana Army and Air National Guard. Umbarger graduated from the University of Evansville in 1969. He is presently serving at Joint Forces Headquarters in Indianapolis.

The Company D (Ranger) 151st Airborne Infantry Association Inc are members of an elite group of  “Selected Reserve Force” unit.  Just over 7000 Army National Guardsmen served in the Vietnam War. Of these, only one unit stayed together from activation and served in combat in Vietnam as a National Guard unit, that was the Company D (Ranger) Infantry 151st Airborne Infantry. Indiana Rangers were decorated 537 times in Vietnam. No other single Army Infantry company was as decorated during a one-year period of time as the Indiana Rangers.

Evansville Mayor, Lloyd Winnecke, will preside over the parade from the Four Freedoms Monument. The Mayor will parade in with the others then be escorted to the Four Freedoms Monument to overlook the rest of the parade with a color guard at his side.

Before the parade, the USI Management class will be collecting coats for distribution to those in need and helping serve food to the veterans and their families.

The Parade will start at the Casino Aztar parking lot and go south on Riverside Drive performing a U-turn at Cherry Street and returning to the Casino Aztar parking lot. The line up will begin at 12:30 PM and the Parade will start at 2:30 PM. Between 200-300 veterans are expected to participate in the parade, on motorcycles, military vehicles, (restored as well as current) and other vehicles. Sponsors for this years Parade include Casino Aztar, Demolition City Roller Derby, Environmental Consultants, The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 723 (IBEW), and Patrick and Eleanor Savage.

This is the third year the River City Thunderbolt Military Vehicle Collectors Club has hosted and sponsored the Veterans Day Parade in Evansville, Indiana. For more information on the Four Freedoms Veterans Parade call 1-866-511-8712 or to down load a Parade participation form please go to the website http://www.thunderboltclub.org