After 3-year absence, annual parade will return on Nov. 12

Oct. 28—HIGH POINT — Tim Gulledge grew up in a military family. His grandfather was a career Army man, his father served in the Korean War, and Gulledge spent 20 years in the Marine Corps, retiring as a master sergeant.

"So I've always had an appreciation for veterans," the 65-year-old High Point man says. "It's the way I was raised — I was taught to be very respectful of veterans."

In that sense, Gulledge may be just the right man to help revive High Point's annual Veterans Day Parade, which is all about honoring the men and women who have served in the nation's military.

"To me, it makes you feel good as a veteran to see people support you," Gulledge says. "I'm proud to be an American, I'm proud to be a Marine, and I'm not afraid to let everybody know it. So it makes me proud to see people come out and support us, and we hope that's what will happen with the parade this year."

Gulledge is leading a team of volunteers from American Legion Post 87 in High Point and VFW Post 9899 in Archdale to bring back the city's annual parade, which was canceled in 2020 because of the pandemic and hasn't been held since.

The parade will be held Nov. 12 beginning at 3 p.m. on Main Street downtown. Parade entries will start lining up around 1:30 p.m. and will follow the traditional parade route from the Russell Avenue intersection north to the conclusion at Qubein Avenue.

According to Gulledge, response to the parade plans has been encouraging.

"We're getting a lot of folks who have participated in the parade in the past," he says.

"We've got Oak Ridge Military Academy coming, we've got some marching bands, and we've got a lot of veterans who are planning to come. Some veterans are not able to march, but we'll have a few floats and some vehicles with trailers for veterans to ride on." A number of military vehicles are also expected to be a part of the parade, along with veterans' groups riding their motorcycles.

"We still want some more people to sign up for the parade if they're interested," Gulledge says.

"The main thing, though, is that we want their focus to be on supporting veterans."

The history of the High Point Veterans Day Parade can be traced to 1983, when local Marine Corps veteran Jack Austin tried to drum up interest in organizing a parade but couldn't find any takers.

"I went around to all these veterans' organizations, but they all said, 'Nah, we're too old for that,' " Austin told The High Point Enterprise for an article in 2009.

"So I said, 'I'm gonna show you something — I'm gonna ride up and down Main Street on Veterans Day with a flag.' "

And that's exactly what he did, except he actually had two American flags flying in the breeze as he cruised Main Street on his candy apple-red Harley-Davidson.

Passing motorists honked their horns and gave Austin the thumbs-up, which encouraged him to give the parade idea another shot the next year.

This time he found support, and High Point held its first Veterans Day Parade in 1984, with about 50 units in the parade and approximately 2,000 spectators.

Austin, who died in 2011, championed the annual parade for 25 years before turning over those duties to Don Webb, a former naval officer who coordinated the parade for a decade until it was canceled in 2020.

Now Gulledge — who actually participated in that first parade in 1984 — hopes to revive the parade. "I was the recruiter here in High Point for the Marines," says Gulledge, who served with the Marines from 1977 to 1997. "I was asked to help get a color guard together for the parade. We did a joint color guard (with servicemembers from the different branches of the military), and we led the parade."

Gulledge, who has participated in numerous parades since then, says he remembers the enthusiasm of the spectators, and he hopes the parade will draw that kind of support again.

"These veterans have given so much for our country, and we'd like for people to come out and recognize them for an hour," he says.

"It's a great opportunity to bring your children out and let them know what the day stands for. We've always been there for the American people, and we'd like to know that they're still there for us."

To participate in the parade, contact Gulledge at 336-847-2135 or tkgusmc@gmail.com.

jtomlin@hpenews.com — 336-888-3579