Honor all who served on Saturday

The “greatest generation” is slowly, inevitably slipping away from us as age takes its toll on the men and women who saved civilization in World War II.

San Marcos is fortunate, however, in that a member of that generation is one of two Grand Marshals for Saturday’s Veterans Day Parade.

Henry Garza, born and raised in San Marcos, joined the untold number of American who volunteered to serve their country in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor. 

According to a press release from the city, Garza “had no idea where Pearl Harbor was” when he joined the Navy, “but he knew his country needed him.”

Garza’s ensuing military career included serving aboard a ship involved in the bombardment of both Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and survived the ship being sunk by Kamikazes. In all, he served on five vessels as a Ship’s Service Man before retiring from the Navy in 1962.

Sharing honors as Grand Marshal is Col. Theodore Dake, M.D., who served in the Naval Reserve and Air Force in a career spanning 30 years — from 1948 to 1978. He was drafted into the Air Force during his junior year at the University of Oklahoma and initially served as a pilot trainee. He went on to become a distinguished pilot and physician — flying spy missions, training other pilots and sharing his medical skills with American and Allied soldiers. He is the only person in the military to have been a command pilot, master parachutist and chief physician.

The parade — themed “Honoring All Who Served,” will begin at 10 a.m. on Hopkins Street at its intersection with CM Allen Parkway and will continue down Hopkins Street past Hays County Courthouse. From there, it will turn left onto Guadalupe Street, then left again onto San Antonio Street and back to CM Allen Parkway. It will disband at the area it formed up.

That’s not the start of festivities, however. A free breakfast of biscuits and gravy sponsored by Cafe on the Square will be served up on the courthouse lawn at 8:30 a.m. 

Kids are invited to participate in the Kiwanis Club Bicycle Brigade — open to children five and older with bicycles, training wheels and scooters, and will be able to decorate their bikes on site from 9 to 10 a.m. 

All participants in the Bicycle Brigade are eligible to enter a drawing to win prizes from Academy Sports and Outdoors.

For more information, call 512-393-8400 or email jmach@sanmarcostx.gov.

City offices will be closed on Monday, Nov. 12 in honor of Veterans Day, which actually falls on Sunday, Nov. 11.