Friday, Nov. 7, 2003 | 5:11 a.m.
WEEKEND EDITION Nov. 8 - 9, 2003
Monday:
6 p.m. -- Hurrah Party at Marine Corps League of Greater Nevada, 4360 Spring Mountain Road.
Tuesday:
10 a.m. -- Las Vegas Veterans Day Parade sponsored by VFW Post 1753 on South Fourth Street, followed by a day-long post-parade party under the Fremont Street Experience.
11 a.m. -- Council of Nevada Veterans Organization ceremony at the CONVO/Lowden Veterans Museum at 3333 Cambridge Street.
2 p.m. -- VFW Post 36 in Boulder City hosts the dedication of the monument to Afghanistan War casualties, including Boulder City's Pfc. Matthew Commons at Veterans Memorial Park at Buchanan Road and Commons Way.
6 p.m. -- USO-theme dance at the atrium of Neonopolis in downtown Las Vegas. Men and women veterans in their uniforms and their guests who wear 1940s' style outfits will be admitted free. For others, admission is $5 per person.
With so much to observe and only one weekday on which to do it, Southern Nevada military veterans and their supporters may have a difficult time choosing where to go and what to do for Veterans Day.
The area's three major events Tuesday are the downtown Las Vegas parade that begins at 10 a.m., a daylong celebration at the veterans museum that begins at 11 a.m. and the dedication of a monument in Boulder City at 2 p.m.
Carol Patterson, spokeswoman for the parade committee, said after complaints by Christian groups when the parade was held on Sunday and by Jewish groups when it was held on Saturday, the actual date of Veterans Day seemed appropriate and satisfying to the majority.
"To hold the parade on the Tuesday instead of a weekend day was hotly debated," Patterson said. "But the parade is an important part of any Veterans Day and we have one of the premier parades on the West Coast."
The parade, which will traverse Fourth Street from Gass to Ogden avenues, will pay tribute to veterans of all wars, but will focus on Korean War veterans on the 50th anniversary of the end of that conflict, Patterson said.
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman is the grand marshal. Co-marshals are R. Lee Ermey of the History Channel's military-themed show "Mail Call" and Richard Marcinko of the nationally syndicated radio program "America on Watch."
About 150 entries will be featured, including 13 marching bands. The parade will stop at 11 a.m. for a fly-over by five Nellis Air Force Base jets, Patterson said. It will be broadcast live on Las Vegas ONE (Cox cable channels 1 and 39).
At the same time that the jets are flying over the parade, a daylong ceremony will be starting at the Council of Nevada Veterans Organizations/Lowden Veterans Museum, 3333 Cambridge St. near Desert Inn Road and Maryland Parkway.
That event will include special tributes to late entertainer Bob Hope, Army veteran and Las Vegas icon Elvis Presley and Vietnam War Medal of Honor recipient Lt. Col. Andre Lucas.
Inside the museum, a room featuring 50 autographed photos from Hope's USO performances overseas will be dedicated.
Hope died in July at the age of 100.
One of Presley's Army uniforms also will be on display at the outdoor ceremony on a stage in the parking lot next to the museum. The Elvis uniform is on loan from the Elvis-A-Rama Museum in Las Vegas.
Museum director Ed Gobel, a veteran of the 101st Airborne Division, also will accept for the museum a uniform of 101st Airborne hero Lucas, from his widow, Madeline Lucas.
Gobel and Lucas were stationed at Fire Station Base Ripcord where Lucas, a native of Seattle, was killed on July 23, 1970.
According to his Medal of Honor citation, 39-year-old Lucas "distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism. His actions ... were instrumental in saving the lives of many of his fellow soldiers while inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy."
Heroes will also be honored at the 2 p.m. ceremony in Boulder City's Veterans Memorial Park. A monument will be dedicated to the seven men killed on March 4, 2002, in Afghanistan. Among those soldiers was 1999 Boulder City High honors graduate Pfc. Matthew Allen Commons. The park is at Buchanan Road and Commons Way.
Bob Garlow, commander of the Matthew A. Commons Memorial VFW Post 36 in Boulder City, said the afternoon time slot was selected by his group after taking into consideration the popularity of the morning parade and museum events.
"But we're not too concerned about it because between the families (of the slain soldiers) who are coming to town and the out-of-state military representatives and other dignitaries, we'll have our own crowd," Garlow said.
"The city started building this monument in July and we finished planting the trees and plants in October, but Veterans Day seemed ideal for the dedication ceremony," Garlow said.
In Boulder City, family members of at least three of the soldiers who were killed in the same battle in the war in Afghanistan, have confirmed they will attend, Garlow said, including relatives of Commons.
"This will be the first monument dedicated at the park," Garlow said. "Having representatives of the families of the fallen soldiers adds so much more meaning to our ceremony."
The monument features seven rock pillars in a semicircle on turf surrounded by desert landscaping.
The Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City opted not to have a ceremony this year because of the nearby veterans park dedication event.
"There already is a lot going on for Veterans Day," Cemetery Superintendent Jack Porrino said. "We did not want to do anything that would steal the thunder from the dedication of the monument."
Veterans Day originated as Armistice Day, commemorating the Nov. 11, 1918, end of World War I. In 1926, Congress made Armistice Day a holiday. In 1954, the holiday became Veterans Day to honor all of those who served the nation in war.
According to the 2000 U.S. Census, Nevada has the second-largest percentage of veterans among the states. There were 238,128 veterans in Nevada, or 16.1 percent of the population 18 and older. Only Wyoming has a larger percentage of veterans in its adult population, and not by much: It has 16.2 percent.
The census says there are 26.4 million veterans in the United States (13 percent of the national population 18 and older) and 1.6 million of them are women. The census says 9.7 million veterans are 65 or older. Also, three of every 10 veterans are from the Vietnam War and two of every 10 are from World War II, according to the census.
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