WWII vet to lead 50th Flag Day parade

TROY, N.Y. >> A World War II veteran and lifelong area resident will lead the city’s 50th annual celebration of the American flag.

Robert St. John Sr. of 14th Street has been selected to serve as grand marshal of the Troy Flag Day Parade, the half- century tradition that is billed as the nation’s largest celebration of the flag. The parade will step off at 1 p.m. Sunday, June 11, on a route that follows 4th Street north from South Troy to downtown.

“As a lifelong resident of Troy, Bob St. John is an example of kindness, hospitality and friendship that we hope our city exemplifies and shapes the community we live in,” the parade’s organizing committee said in a statement announcing his selection.

St. John served in the U. S. Army Air Corps from 1944- 46 as a B-17 flight engineer with the 74th Bomb Squadron, 6th Air Force. He attained the rank of staff sergeant, flying submarine patrols along the Panama Canal in the closing days of World War II.

A talented florist, Bob owned and operated a flower shop in his hometown after his military service. He went on to work at Simons Machine and Tool as a licensed electrician and later as a master electrician for Continental Can Co., also sharing those talents as a member of the city’s Electrical Board.

Volunteerism has been a guiding principle in St. John’s life, the commit- tee said. In addition to serving on the Electrical Board, he has volunteered for more than 30 years as chaplain and a receptionist at Samaritan Hospital, served in leadership and volunteer positions at the Elks Lodge and has given his time to both St. Francis DeSales Church and Our Lady of Victory Parish.

St. John is celebrating 60 years of marriage to the former Anna Marino, with whom he raised five children. The family now also includes two grandchildren and a great- granddaughter.

The parade annually draws as many as 40,000 spectators along its 2-mile route between Main and Federal streets, with the reviewing stand set up outside Franklin Plaza.