LEONARDTOWN, Md. — Bob Day, who served 20 years in the U.S. Navy before retiring from Patuxent River Naval Air Station, joined veterans, families and local organizations on Leonardtown Square for the 50th annual Veterans Day Parade on Tuesday, a community tradition honoring those who served in the United States Armed Forces. He said the parade was a reminder of the gratitude that continues long after service ends.
“I came here to honor the veterans, and I appreciated how many people have thanked me for my service today,” Day said. “I appreciated everybody that’s thanked me for my service, and especially in this county, it seems like everybody appreciates the Patuxent River [Naval Air Station]. That’s where I retired from.”
His wife, Pam Day, said Veterans Day was deeply personal for their family. “Yes, honoring the veterans, which my husband is a veteran and spent 20 years in the Navy,” she said.
The couple moved to St. Mary’s County from North Carolina in January 1987 and built their life around the Navy base community. Pam said she has come to love the area.
“It’s beautiful, I love Leonardtown, I live in Lexington Park, but I love Leonardtown,” Day said. “It’s a beautiful little community. Everybody seems to get along so great.”
Leonardtown Mayor Daniel Burris said this was the 50th year Leonardtown hosted the Veterans Day Parade. He said that no matter the weather, the community always makes their way out to the streets for the parade.
“This is our 50th anniversary [for the Leonardtown Veterans Day Parade],” Burris said. “Just honoring the veterans that have taken care of the United States of America. We thank them very much.”
Burris said it was moving to see so many people lining the streets of the historic downtown area.
Mary Washington, a longtime member of the St. Mary’s County Board of Education, said the parade reflects unity across generations.
“This is a wonderful day to celebrate our veterans and the service and sacrifices they have done to keep America strong and free,” Washington said. “I see children, I see grown-ups, I see all ages, from newborns to 100-plus years old out here letting the veterans know that we care and we appreciate what they have done for our great nation.”
Retired U.S. Navy Capt. Barbara Ives, who served 27 years on active duty, said she was at the parade honoring veterans like her husband, a retired Army officer. She described the Leonardtown parade as one of the region’s most meaningful tributes.
“This is the Leonardtown Veterans Day Parade, and it is the most notarized and public and appreciated parade I feel on the Eastern Seaboard,” Capt. Ives said. “Our veterans are people that served, they cared, they have taken care of our country, and they deserve to be recognized. And today is the day we do that.”
Capt. Ives, a Naval Academy graduate and one of its early female alumni, was the first woman to reach the top of the Herndon Monument Climb, which is part of a traditional plebe year recognition at the U.S. Naval Academy. She also just celebrated her 45th reunion at the Naval Academy, and she said that this Veterans Day she was proud to say her whole family served.
“All five of us are veterans, which is, to me, extra special,” Capt. Ives said. “I’m so proud to say that we all have served, and to me, that means a great deal.”
Wendy Rice of the American Legion Auxiliary Unit 255 from Ridge, Md., joined the hundreds of residents and visitors in Leonardtown for the 50th annual Veterans Day Parade, and she said the parade was full of community tradition and one of her favorite parades in Maryland.
“This is a parade that we do every year, and people come from all over the state, and we honor the veterans that have served for us and have come back home, and we try to help them daily and weekly, and we just give as much as we can,” Rice said. “Most of our things are volunteered, but we also provide for the community with donations and charity.”
Rice held a basket of red paper poppies. She was handing them out to people watching the parade, and she explained that the red paper poppies became a symbol of sacrifice, resilience and remembrance following World War I, and the American Legion Auxiliary adopted the red poppy as their official memorial flower.
The origins of the red poppy started with the poem “In Flanders Field,” written by Canadian Army Lt. Col. John McCrae in 1915 after he witnessed the death of a fellow soldier. The poem described red poppies blooming near the graves of soldiers in Flanders, Belgium.
St. Mary’s County Commissioner Eric Colvin said the Leonardtown Veterans Day Parade was one of the largest and most meaningful tributes in Maryland, bringing together families, veterans and residents from across the region.
“This is our annual Veterans Day Parade in the town of Leonardtown, also sponsored by the St. Mary’s County government. It is a phenomenal parade, the biggest in the state of Maryland,” Colvin said. “It is awesome, so many people come out for this, and it’s just great to be able to support our veterans. We’re a military community, and it shows today. It really does.”
Colvin said the parade reflects the heart of St. Mary’s County and described marching in it as a real Southern Maryland experience.
“Having walked in the parade, when you walk up that hill into Leonardtown and you turn that corner, and it’s just this massive crowd cheering on our veterans and celebrating our community, it is wonderful,” Colvin said. “You see just everybody — old, young, every ethnicity, every group possible — out here just enjoying the day and celebrating what makes America great today.”
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It’s a shame the parade isn’t filled with veterans.