When/Where:  Saturday, November 3, 2018 at 10:00 AM – Downtown Dover – W. Loockerman Street to Legislative Avenue

When/Where:  Saturday, November 3, 2018 at 12:00 PM – Downtown Dover – Legislative Avenue & Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard

The Delaware General Assembly, the Delaware Department of State, the Delaware Commission of Veterans Affairs, the Delaware Heritage Commission, Dover Air Force Base, and the City of Dover will honor Delaware Women Veterans with this year’s ‘Veterans Day Parade.’ The parade will begin at 10:00 A.M. winding through downtown Dover ending at the site of the dedication ceremony.

For more information on the parade, please contact Colinda Marker in Legislative Council at 302-744-4303 or colinda.marker@delaware.gov. Registration to enter the parade is also available with the deadline on Monday, October 29, 2018.

Please help us honor Delaware’s Women Veterans at Legislative Hall. The dedication ceremony will follow the parade starting at 12:00 P.M. Parking is available all around Legislative Hall, which sits on Legislative Avenue between Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard North and South. Refreshments will follow the ceremony at the Delaware Public Archives adjacent to Legislative Hall.

For more information on the monument dedication, please call (302) 744-4114 or email: Legislative.Council@delaware.gov

Parade 2018
Monument 2018

When/Where: Saturday, July 7th, 2018 @ 9:00am (Rain or Shine). Registration starts at 8am. Silver Lake Park, Dover, DE                               (Use Washington Street entrance off of State Street)

We’re back and ready for all our great supporters to register for our annual ‘Freedom 5K!’ It’s not too late to convince your family and friends to come help support this wonderful event. You can register as a runner, a walker or even a roller. We also have the option for sponsorship, for those who would like to stay on the side lines. Thank you and hope to see everyone there!

To register, please visit TriSportsEvents.com or make checks payable to Veterans Trust Fund, mail it to TriSports, 2772 Hazlettville Road, Dover, DE  19904. Below are forms for registration and sponsorship.

2018 Freedom 5K Registration

2018 5K Sponsorship Form

When/Where: Thursday, June 14th @ 10:00 am. Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery, 26669 Patriots Way, Millsboro, DE  19966.

Please take the time to join us this year for our annual ceremony honoring ‘Old Glory.’ Our veteran organization host will be the Korean War Veterans Association, led by Commissioner Edward Johnson.

‘Old Glory”

This famous name was coined by Captain William Driver, a shipmaster of Salem, Massachusetts, in 1831. As he was leaving on one of his many voyages aboard the brig CHARLES DOGGETT – and this one would climax with the rescue of the mutineers of the BOUNTY – some friends presented him with a beautiful flag of twenty four stars. As the banner opened to the ocean breeze for the first time, he exclaimed “Old Glory!”

He retired to Nashville in 1837, taking his treasured flag from his sea days with him. By the time the Civil War erupted, most everyone in and around Nashville recognized Captain Driver’s “Old Glory.” When Tennesee seceded from the Union, Rebels were determined to destroy his flag, but repeated searches revealed no trace of the hated banner.

Then on February 25th, 1862, Union forces captured Nashville and raised the American flag over the capital. It was a rather small ensign and immediately folks began asking Captain Driver if “Old Glory” still existed. Happy to have soldiers with him this time, Captain Driver went home and began ripping at the seams of his bedcover. As the stitches holding the quilt-top to the batting unraveled, the onlookers peered inside and saw the 24-starred original “Old Glory”!

Captain Driver gently gathered up the flag and returned with the soldiers to the capitol. Though he was sixty years old, the Captain climbed up to the tower to replace the smaller banner with his beloved flag. The Sixth Ohio Regiment cheered and saluted – and later adopted the nickname “Old Glory” as their own, telling and re-telling the story of Captain Driver’s devotion to the flag we honor yet today.

Captain Driver’s grave is located in the old Nashville City Cemetery, and is one of three (3) places authorized by act of Congress where the Flag of the United States may be flown 24 hours a day.

A caption above a faded black and white picture in the book, The Stars and the Stripes, states that ” ‘Old Glory’ may no longer be opened to be photographed, and no color photograph is available.” Visible in the photo in the lower right corner of the canton is an appliqued anchor, Captain Driver’s very personal note. “Old Glory” is the most illustrious of a number of flags – both Northern and Confederate – reputed to have been similarly hidden, then later revealed as times changed. The flag was given to his granddaughter or niece and she later donated it to the Smithsonian.

http://www.usflag.org/old.glory.story.html

When/Where: Saturday, May 26th @ 10:30am – Parade Field Grounds of the Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery, 2465 Chesapeake City Road, Bear, DE  19701.

When/Where: Wednesday, May 30th @ 10:am – War Memorial Plaza, 163 Cherry Lane, New Castle, DE  19720.

The Delaware Commission of Veterans Affairs will like to invite you to their annual Memorial Day Ceremonies honoring all our fallen military members. On May 26th, the event will be hosted by the DAV – Disabled American Veterans, led by Commissioner Paul Lardizzone at the Delaware Veterans Cemetery. On May 30th, the event will be hosted by the DNG – Delaware National Guard, led by Vice Chair Angela Showell at the War Memorial Plaza (Delaware Bridge).

When/Where: Monday, December 11, 2017 at 11:30 am. Legislative Hall in Dover, Delaware

The Delaware General Assembly welcomes Wreaths Across America to the First State for the 4th annual ceremony in Dover. “Delaware is proud to participate in the Wreaths Across America Program at our capital in Dover. The mission of the program is to remember, honor and teach, by laying wreaths on Monday, December 11, 2017, at the capitals in all 50 states, as well as at Arlington National Cemetery and all other veterans cemeteries, ” Senator Bruce C. Ennis, Chair, Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

REMEMBER our fallen U.S. veterans.

HONOR those who serve.

TEACH your children the value of freedom.

The national theme for 2017 is ‘I’m an American. Yes, I am.’

http://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/