‘Every Veteran Counts’ For Annual Parade

By LAURA ROBISON

The Progress

Larry Griffiths as a young serviceman in the USAF.

The annual Moapa Valley Veterans Day Parade will be held on Friday, November 11. The theme for this year’s parade is “Every Veteran Counts.”

The VFW Elwood Perkins Post 8336 sponsors the parade in cooperation with the MV Chamber of Commerce.

Rick Houston will be the announce at the center spot on the main street in front of Infowest and Ace Hardware.
The parade in downtown Overton will begin promptly at 10:00 a.m. with a fly-over by Tim DeBerardinis in his Tan 1968 Piper Cherokee; and Greg Witter in his blue and white 1967 Piper Cherokee.

This year’s Parade Grand Marshal will be Larry Griffiths who served his country in the military when he was younger. He has also served his community as the Moapa Valley JustServe.org coordinator over the past eight years. .

In 1964, Larry Paul Griffiths enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. His basic training was in Texas and his specialty training in mapmaking was in Virginia. His duty assignments included South Carolina, Missouri, Hawaii, Nebraska, Illinois, and Indiana.

The last eight years of his 28-year career were spent in recruiting for the National Guard. During this time, he taught the “Career Planning Workshop” in three school districts. He planned and sponsored the “Funding Game” event for these school districts which gained national attention.

He retired in 1990 as an Army Master Sargent E-8. During Desert Storm, he was called back to active duty to serve in a family support center which acted as liaison between guard and reserve dependents and the military. Griffiths is a life member of the VFW and a member of the local Post 8336.

The main highway will be closed off at 9 a.m. right at Whitmore Street. Check-in and staging for the parade takes place at 8:30-9:45 a.m. Anyone wishing to line the streets and watch the parade will have to take a detour down Whitmore to get to downtown.

“We would like all the Veterans to be in the parade,” said Post 8336 Commander Darcy Bushman. “They all deserve the honor to participate in this great day.”

A community picnic honoring veterans will take place in the Overton Park immediately following the parade. The MV Rotary will be cooking hamburgers for attendees. The MV Chamber sponsors the luncheon and local FFA kids will serve up the food to the crowd.