Tidewater Veterans Day Parade and Ceremony Is Saturday in Virginia Beach

Join the Hampton Roads Council of Veterans Organizations to pay tribute to all the men and women who have served and protected the United States at the 2023 Tidewater Veterans Day Parade and Ceremony. The parade starts at 9 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 11, at 16th Street and Atlantic Avenue in Virginia Beach. It ends at the Tidewater Veterans Memorial at 19th Street, across from the Virginia Beach Convention Center, 1000 19th St.

The parade will include more than 100 units including military units from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard that represent military installations across the region. Veterans from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Desert Shield, and operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom will participate, as well as municipal and veterans support organizations, local high school bands and Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops.

A formal ceremony begins immediately following the parade at 11 a.m. with military, federal, state, and local dignitaries at the Tidewater Veterans Memorial. This year's grand marshal is State Sen. Bill DeSteph Jr., a retired lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Reserves. The co-marshal is Patrick Rowland, a Virginia state deputy in the Knights of Columbus and a retired lieutenant in the U.S. Navy.

The City of Virginia Beach has been hosting the Veterans Day parade since 1970, and the event is sponsored by the Hampton Roads Council of Veterans Organizations. It is sanctioned by the Department of Veterans Affairs National Veterans Day Committee. The mayors of Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach signed a proclamation declaring that "citizens, businesses and organizations demonstrate due appreciation, admiration and respect for all veterans who have served our great nation."

For more information, contact Daniel Doyle, HRCVO president, at (757) 348-0884.