The town of Plymouth observed Veterans Day on Nov. 11. Events included a parade on Main Street and a celebration of local veterans in front of the town hall.
Plymouth holds an annual parade in observance of Veterans Day. This year, the parade began at the National Guard Armory, and continued on Main Street up to Highland Avenue.
Despite the light snow that began to fall during the observance, approximately one hundred people lined the parade route and congregated outside the Plymouth town hall. Crowds began to form an hour before the parade was set to begin.
“Main Street was [sic] closed from the Armory all the way to Subway,” a Student University police officer that wished to remain anonymous said. “Some people might be annoyed that they have to use the highway,” he added. Traffic was redirected from Main Street, causing commuters to find alternative routes around town.
Participants in the parade came from Plymouth as well as other surrounding towns, including Ashland and Holderness, “I had the day off so I decided to come down,” Tim Woods, a resident of Moultonborough said. His daughter was invited to march in the parade as part of the Holderness girl scout troop. Boy and Girl scout troops from Ashland, and the Pemi-Baker Valley region carried banners and marched alongside National Guard members.
This year marks the 90th anniversary of the first Veterans Day. Originally called Armistice Day, Veterans Day was established to recognize the end of the “War to end all wars,” as World War I was once known. Thirty-six years after Armistice Day was established, it became clear that Veterans from all wars should be recognized, this caused the first Veteran’s Day to be celebrated on Nov. 11, 1954, “This day became a day to celebrate all war veterans,” Plymouth town selectman Daryl Brown said during a ceremony after the parade. “Today the town of Plymouth gives thanks to our daughters and sons who heard the call and took the oath,” Brown added.
Special to this year’s Veteran’s Day celebration was the recognition of the 237th Military Police regiment based out of Plymouth, Concord and Keene, N.H.. The group was deployed to Iraq during the summer of 2007, and returned earlier this year. An official proclamation welcoming and honoring the veterans for their hard work was bestowed upon the regiment.
“We gather here for a few minutes to say thank you to the veterans,” Deb Reynolds, N.H.’s District two state Representative said, “today we honor all of our veterans.” She added that, “They were ordinary citizens until they heard the call and decided to answer it.”
Commander Berg from the 66th American Legion in Plymouth offered some personal words to the crowd, “This has been a tough year for me, I am slowly losing my vision, and I can no longer read newspapers or magazines,” he said, but he offered a heartfelt thanks, “I’m glad to see such a great turnout.”
The observance ended with a ceremonial round of taps played by guardsmen and a twenty-one-gun salute on the green outside the Plymouth town offices.