The annual Veterans Day Parade in Franklin will take place Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 11 a.m. and will run through downtown Franklin.
“The Veterans Parade was resurrected in November 2001 as a response to the Sept. 11 attacks,” said organizer Tom Lawrence of WAKM radio. “The parade was so popular that we’ve made it an annual tradition on or just before Veterans Day each year.”
The parade committee consists of Lawrence, Monique McCullough with the City of Franklin, David Snowden of the Franklin Special Schools District, Aimee Saunders, director of the Williamson County Archives & Museum and A.J. Christian, the Williamson County Veterans Affairs officer. The parade is a City of Franklin special event.
The event usually takes place Nov. 11, but Williamson County Schools decided to make that day a holiday, Lawrence explained.
“Since we depend upon WCS for marching bands, marching ROTC units, and school buses, we figured we’d better have the parade on the day before,” he said.
That morning, there will be a reception/brunch for veterans and their families from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Williamson County Archives at Five Points. The parade begins at 11 a.m. sharp after church bells toll in downtown Franklin between 10:50 a.m. to 11 a.m. Traffic in downtown Franklin will close from 10:40 a.m. to 11:20 a.m.
“The parade has several distinct features including grand marshals chosen by Williamson County Veterans Affairs and the Franklin Special School District fourth grade marching as a lesson in patriotism,” Lawrence said. “We expect 400 to attend the reception/brunch, and we expect in excess of 30,000 to observe the parade.”
The parade is more than just a special event for Franklin. It offers the opportunity to make special memories for veterans and their families.
“Just a couple of years ago, three brothers in a prominent Franklin family, the Dunnings, requested that they be in the parade with their father, a World War II veteran,” said Lawrence. “Each one of the Dunnings sons are veterans, and they wanted to be in the parade with their dad. The father was dying.
“Mr. Dunning was made a Grand Marshal,” Lawrence continued. “The Dunning boys brought the convertible and surrounded their father with pride. The community provided the respect. Mr. Dunning passed away just a few weeks later. The Dunning boys will tell you that was one of the best days of Mr. Dunning’s life, and they have the pictures to prove it. This is what the Franklin Veterans Parade is all about.”
County Mayor Rogers Anderson supports the parade and how it honors veterans.
“It’s a national holiday to recognize and honor veterans from our county who have served in the military,” Anderson said. “It’s a special day for the veterans and their families to come together and be celebrated. I’m a veteran but that’s not why it’s done. We do it because it’s the right thing to do.”
