Storrs Veteran Is Named Grand Marshal for Connecticut Veterans Parade

Contributed photo: Lt. Col. (retired) Kristopher E. Perry of Storrs.

The Connecticut Veterans Parade is calling on all state veterans and active military personnel to register to march on Nov. 8 in the 16th annual procession in Hartford.

The organization has announced the five grand marshals — including veteran Lt. Col. (retired) Kristopher E. Perry from Storrs.

The parade will step off at 12:30 p.m. Nov. 8 near the Connecticut State Capitol Building in Hartford.

Any Connecticut resident who is an active, retired or honorably discharged member of the U.S. Armed Forces including commissioned officers, warrant officers and enlisted personnel of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, National Guard or Reserves is welcome to participate. Parade organizers also seek veterans groups, patriotic commissions, local municipalities, marching bands and drill teams from colleges, high and middle schools, and bagpipe & drum corps and fife & drum corps from across the state.

To register to march, visit www.CTVeteransParade.org or call the Parade Info Phone at 860-986-7254.

The other 2015 Parade Grand Marshals are:

• Brigadier Gen. (Retired) Joseph T. Perkins of Niantic, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and the Conn. Army National Guard;
• CSM Orlando A. Anderson of Manchester, a veteran of the U.S. Army, and current member of the Connecticut Army National Guard;
• Lt. Emily D. Trudeau of Cheshire, a veteran of the U.S. Navy;

• Lance Corporal Paul Segarra of Berlin, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps.

Perry is the director of the Office of Veterans Affairs and Military Programs at the University of Connecticut, where he is responsible for the support of the university’s 900-plus veteran students, more than 300 staff and faculty, and more than 200 military cadets, providing the full spectrum of educational benefits, educational support, and social activities for veterans and ROTC cadets on campus.

He was commissioned an Ensign from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1992, and completed an inter-service transfer to the Air Force 6 years later. Perry is designated as a Naval Flight Officer and Master Navigator with over 2,300 flying hours, including over 230 combat hours in the E-2C Hawkeye, B-52H Stratofortress, and T-1A Jayhawk aircraft. Perry has held various operational assignments in the Navy, Air Combat Command, and Air Education and Training Command. He is a veteran of Operations Allied Force, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and several other military combat operations. He completed two staff tours: one at Headquarters for the Air Force at the Pentagon; and the other a joint staff tour at Headquarters of the U.S. Forces in Seoul, Korea.

Parade organizers also are seeking scores of volunteers to help with a variety of responsibilities, before and during the parade – volunteer applications are available at www.CTVeteransParade.org.

Special event features will include an 11:30 a.m. Wreath-Laying Ceremony at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch to remember all veterans. The parade itself will step off at 12:30 p.m. and proceed through the Downtown streets. At 1:30 p.m., a Moment of Silence will be observed, as marchers stop in-place to remember soldiers who died while serving their country, followed minute later by a tolling of church bells and singing of the National Anthem. Parade volunteers will hand out American flags to spectators, and will sell 2015 commemorative parade lapel pins for $4 at booths on Atheneum Square near the Main Street reviewing stand.