CTHVAMC News Release - VA Preps for Parade with Float Decorating
November 1, 2007

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VA Preps for Parade with Float Decorating
Veteran Grand Marshals Will Help Create Parade Float

PHOENIX - Thursday, November 1, 2007, from 6 to 9 a.m.: Veterans who are serving as Grand Marshals of the 2007 VA Veterans Day Parade will help decorate a parade float at the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center.

Float decorating will take place in front of the VA Medical Center's Ambulatory Care Center (ACC). The ACC is located near the entrance to the VA Medical Center at the northeast corner of Third Street and Indian School Road in Phoenix.

The VA Veterans Day Parade and its surrounding events help honor and commemorate military veterans with a parade and educational venues about the sacrifices they have made to preserve our freedoms. This year, the parade is focusing education on the history of the Vietnam War. The Grand Marshals' Float will depict a helicopter ready to pick up three soldiers, one of whom is injured, on a camouflage ground. The float will let parade viewers know that 900,000 troops were evacuated by helicopter during the war from 1964 to 1973.

Helicopters became a critical tool in the war in Southeast Asia. In addition to transporting men and supplies, "choppers" were used to reconnoiter, to provide command and control, and to evacuate wounded. During the Vietnam War, sturdier helicopters and an advanced dispatch system allowed for landings in more remote areas, even during fighting, resulting in improved survival rates of wounded troops.

This year's parade Grand Marshals include two Congressional Medal of Honor recipients, four soldiers and marines who were wounded in Iraq and received the Purple Heart, and men and women who are veterans of the Vietnam War.

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