On Friday, May 5, 2023, history and current events will intersect as Chattanooga celebrates Armed Forces Day with the staging of its 74th Armed Forces Day Parade under the direction of Lt. Col. Bill Brooks and Bill Norton, USMC.
Chattanoogans will line Market Street at 10:30 a.m. to enjoy Hamilton County high schools’ JROTC cadets and bands, active-duty members of the armed forces, numerous veteran groups, and scores of community and civic groups who support their men and women in uniform. However, many bystanders will know little of the history of Armed Forces Day. Even more have little grasp of Chattanooga’s unique position as host city for the longest, continuously staged Armed Forces Day parade in the nation.
Armed Forces Day was created on Aug. 31, 1949, by then-Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson to unify the country’s celebration into one day instead of the previously separate Army, Navy and Air Force Days. His purpose was to expand public understanding of the actively serving members of the armed forces and the role of the military in civilian life while honoring and acknowledging those who serve.
Chattanooga, known as the “most patriotic city in the nation,” had begun celebrating its veteran and active-duty military before the advent of Armed Forces Day. Perhaps the most famous photo from Chattanooga parade days is an image of the grand marshals of our local 1946 parade — four Tennessee Medal of Honor recipients.
Driving the jeep was Sgt. Alvin C. York of Pall Mall, Fentress County, Tennessee, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for acts of valor during the Great War, later designated as World War I. After his platoon had suffered heavy casualties and other NCOs were killed, York led seven men in charging a machine gun nest, which was decimating the Allied forces, and silenced the weapons. He captured four officers, 128 German enlisted soldiers and numerous guns. For that action, he became the most highly decorated soldier of the Great War.