Inspired by St. Louis, which hosted a parade to honor Iraq War veterans last month, a Welcome Home Our Military Parade is being planned in Richmond on May 19.
Craig Schneider, a key organizer of the Missouri parade, is working with six other communities through The Welcome Home Foundation to plan celebrations recognizing returning veterans.
Schneider was in Virginia this week helping plan the Richmond event, participating in a meeting with the governor's staff at the Virginia War Memorial, and the city has pledged support for the parade, said Robin Beres, who is chairing the event.
"I am very supportive of the grass-roots effort that has brought this parade request to Virginia's Capital City," Mayor Dwight C. Jones said in a statement. "I've discussed this with City Council, and we look forward to working with the parade organizers in developing an event that honors those men and women who have served our country through military service in both Iraq and Afghanistan."
The parade is tentatively scheduled for 10 a.m. on May 19 — Armed Forces Day — and will travel the Boulevard from The Diamond to the Carillon in Byrd Park.
Beres, the Richmond Times-Dispatch's editorial office manager and a retired Navy chief petty officer, proposed the parade in an opinion piece in the paper. She said she sees veterans returning home, without fanfare, after serving three or four tours of duty in Iraq or Afghanistan. "Nobody really bothered to do anything" to recognize them, she said.
The parade already has its own logo and Facebook page, and a team of core volunteers are in place, among them members of the Navy League Richmond Council, Beres said.
Michael Wallace, a Richmond spokesman, said planning for the event is still under way but that city support could include services from the police, fire and public works departments, as well as the waiver of permit fees.
Schneider said people in 22 communities have reached out to him inquiring about holding parades. Two are scheduled to be held before Richmond's.
The idea for the St. Louis parade sprang from a December conversation between Schneider and a friend, and they pulled the event together in a month. It was the nation's first big welcome home for veterans of the war since U.S. troops were withdrawn from Iraq in December.
Schneider said he is flying around the country helping other localities put together parades because he found his involvement in the St. Louis event so meaningful. "I really believed in it," said Schneider, who is the father of a veteran.
Tens of thousands attended the St. Louis parade, which featured 88 military groups and entertainers from around the country. He said the event cost about $35,000.
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