At 11:00 am, post members met behind Walgreen's in Wappingers Falls before being transported to the parade staging area on North Street. The parade stepped off a 1:00 pm. We were there to represent Dutchess County American Legion.

Parade participants were Lance Ashworth, Don Burns, John Call, Norm Dauerer (with Jeep), Tom Masch (with Jeep), Bill Meyer, Mike Miller, Dan Oberhauser, John Polasko and Commander Jim Reynolds. Ashworth and Call carried the POW/MIA and Legion Flags in the color guard.

Here's Commander Reynolds' video of the parade.

Full Parade Video.

On Tuesday morning, Feb. 18, John Jay High School held an assembly of students, administrators of schools in the southern portion of the district, and several veterans groups (including Post 1758), to commemorate the POW/MIA flag and to distribute flags donated by veterans groups to the principals of the various schools. Air Force veteran and Wappingers Central School District School Board Trustee Virgil Capollari gave a short history of the flag and explained why it's important that the flag be prominently displayed.

In the afternoon, a reprise of the ceremony was held at Roy C. Ketcham High School for schools in the northern portion of the district. Our post was assigned five seats on the stages at both events. Those seats were filled by Commander Jim Reynolds, Bill Meyer, Jeff Miedowski, Bill Kriebel and Lance Ashworth.