The Aurora community will salute heroes on Veterans Day who bravely served America and returned home to continue serving in many ways throughout the community.
With the theme Serving Our Country and Our Community, the annual Aurora Veterans Day Parade will begin at 10:15 a.m. on Friday November 11, in downtown Aurora.
It will conclude at the GAR Memorial Hall, 23 E. Downer Place, where veterans, parade participants, and guests will convene for a tribute ceremony.
The Veterans Day ceremony will feature remarks by Aurora Mayor Richard C. Irvin, a US Army Veteran, and other local veterans; a roll-call of military branches; and a military salute on the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month to commemorate the armistice agreement that ended World War I.
During the ceremony, an unprecedented unveiling of the GAR Memorial Hall sentry will also take place. Removed from atop the building more than a decade ago for preservation, the original sentry has been refurbished and a weather-resistant replica has also been made. The sentry symbolically welcomed home veterans from wars for more than a century.
The Veterans Day Parade will begin at the intersection of Broadway and Benton, head north on Broadway to Downer, head west on Downer to the GAR Memorial Hall, 23 E. Downer Place. Parade units will include local veterans’ organizations, public safety units, youth groups and community organizations.
