Birmingham is home to America’s oldest, and once the largest, Veterans Day parade. Today at 1:30 p.m., the parade route will begin at 8th Ave. North and 19th Street.
According to nationalveteransday.org, Raymond Weeks of Birmingham Alabama, led a delegation to Washington, DC urging then-Army Chief of Staff General Dwight Eisenhower to create a national holiday that honored all veterans. In 1954, now-President Eisenhower signed legislation formally establishing November 11th as Veterans Day. In 1982, President Reagan honored Weeks at the White House with the Presidential Citizenship Medal as the driving force for the national holiday. Weeks led the first National Veterans Day Parade in 1947 in Alabama, and continued the tradition annually until his passing in 1985.
Weeks was remembered in a ceremony on Sunday at Linn Park.
Here’s the full parade route:
- START ON 8TH AVE N. AND 19TH ST.
- SOUTH ON 19TH ST. TO 5TH AVE N.
- EAST ON 5TH AVE TO 22ND ST.
- SOUTH ON 22ND ST TO 2ND AVE N.
- WEST ON 2ND AVE TO 18TH ST.
- NORTH ON 18TH ST. TO 6TH AVE N.