AWE AND WONDER MARK PARADES IN THE 1950s
(Editor’s note: Second of two parts)
The celebration of the historic 75th anniversary Chattanooga Armed Forces Day Parade on May 3, 2024, featured military units, veterans’ organizations, all JROTC cadet cadres in the region and scores of civic groups marching in honor of the parade’s storied past. Gen. James J. Mingus, U.S. Army vice chief of staff, served as the parade’s grand marshal and was introduced as the keynote speaker at the luncheon by Chattanooga’s own Gen. B.B. Bell, USA [Ret.].
With the 2024 parade, Chattanoogans and citizens from across Southeast Tennessee honored Brig. Gen. Carl Levi, a cadet in the original 1949 parade; John Sparks, Vietnam conflict “Hanoi Hilton” POW; John Edwards III, Vietnam veteran and acclaimed Buffalo Solider historian; Sgt. Alvin C. York’s family, including Col. Gerald York, USA [Ret.], Debbie York, chairman of the York Patriotic Foundation, and Angela York, the sergeant’s granddaughter and daughter of youngest son Thomas Jefferson York. As has become its custom, the parade was a mixture of jubilation and quiet reflection. The “memory car” paid tribute to all the veterans, including World War II Army Air Corps Lt. Bo Cline, former POW, and World War II veteran Ralph Painter, who had died during the past year.
Past parades, stretching across the 74 years since postWorld War II, have developed the same mixture of awe and wonder.
In 1955, the participants represented all facets of Chattanooga communities. The competition for “best float” included the Sertoma Club, La Sertoma Club, Kay’s Ice Cream, Grant-Patten Milk Company, Miller Brothers, Cooties, the 4-H Clubs, Future Farmers of America, Joe Engel, the Newcomers Club, the American Red Cross and others.
Not to be outdone by the civilians, the military marching units represented the “best of the best,” according to the May, 19, 1955, Chattanooga Daily Times: McCallie School cadets, Baylor School cadets, Sewanee Military Academy cadets, U.S. Army troops from Fort Benning (home of the infantry), Chattanooga High School JROTC cadets, City High girls’ drill squad, University of Chattanooga ROTC cadets, “various house units,” Elks Rest Patrol, U.S. Army Reserve units, Alhambra Shrine Wrecking Crew, U.S. Navy Reserve units, Alhambra Shrine clown units and the U.S. Marine Reserve unit. Separate drum and bugle corps participants included Baylor School, Alhambra Shrine, Hyksos Shrine and Chattanooga’s oldest American Legion outfit, Post #14. Imagining the families and friends of these various units — coupled with patriotic citizens without a direct connection to the parade — helps explain the more than 20,000 spectators who lined the parade route.
The next year’s parade, 1956, featured a spectacular air show by the United States Air Force, based at McGhee-Tyson Air Force Base in Knoxville, and coordinated locally by Charles A. Krupecki, commander of the radar battalion based on Lookout Mountain, and Marine Capt. W.C. Keith Jr., Chattanooga Sertoma Club, sponsors of the special event that would include 67 types of military aircraft, the largest air show in the nation that year.
By 1958, Hamilton County Schools dismissed students at lunch on parade day, and the number of attendees at the parade increased as young citizens waving flags and wearing their favorite red, white and blue lined the route. The parade began at 1:30 p.m. on May 16, and, according to the Chattanooga Daily Times, included “28 bands … numerous dignitaries, both military and civilian, including John S. Gleason Jr., National Commander of the American Legion,” and would be preceded by an Armed Forces Day luncheon at the Hotel Patten. The Times reported that a crowd in excess of 250 was expected to attend, and SummersWhitehead American Legion Post #14 would coordinate. Visiting dignitaries were scheduled to arrive at Lovell Field, where Mayor P.R. Olgiati, members of the City
Commission and veterans’ groups would be waiting.
Admiral E.P. Holmes, assistant chief of naval operations in Washington, served as the chief reviewing officer for the parade and was honored at the luncheon. He was joined on the review stand, between Seventh and Eighth streets on Market Street, by Maj. Gen. Joe Henry of the Tennessee National Guard and Rear Admiral Alvin F. Richardson, honorary parade marshals. During his speech at the Patton Hotel, Holmes paid tribute to the Tennessee Valley Authority’s contributions to national defense and TVA Board Chairman Gen. Herbert Vogel and board members Drs. Arnold S. Jones and Frank J. Welch.
For 75 years, the Chattanooga Armed Forces Parade reminded citizens that their city was the “most patriotic city in the nation.”
Linda Moss Mines, the Chattanooga-Hamilton County historian, serves as secretary of the Chattanooga Armed Forces Parade Committee. For more on local history, visit Chattahistoricalassoc.org.