M*A*S*H* star Loretta Swit will be in this year's John Basilone Memorial Parade

When John Basilone was welcomed home after being awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for heroism at Guadalcanal, his hometown Raritan and neighboring Somerville held a parade on Sept. 19, 1943, to honor the World War II hero before he embarked on a national tour with movie star John Garfield to sell War Bonds.

That parade, which attracted 20,000 spectators, included celebrities such as former New York City Mayor Jimmy Walker and movie stars Danny Thomas, Virginia O'Brien and Louise Allbritton.

This year’s John Basilone Memorial Parade, almost 80 years later to the day, on Sept. 24, will feature another star – 85-year-old Loretta Swit.

Swit, known for her role on M*A*S*H as Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan, will be in the annual parade, the only one in the United States to honor a World War II hero, with another, Archie Fagan, who will serve as grand marshal.

Swit, who appeared in all but 11 episodes of the series and won two Emmy awards, was born in Passaic and grew up in New Jersey. She devotes most of her time to animal rights activism and has a nonprofit organization, SwitHeart Animal Alliance.

Fagan, whom everybody in Hunterdon County knew as the official greeter at the ShopRite in Raritan Township, was forced to retire from the job three years ago at the age of 93.

While most people knew Fagan from his job, few realized he was a veteran of World War II and witnessed the horrors of the war and the Holocaust.

Guest speaker for the ceremony at the end of the parade will be Ronald S. Coleman, a former United States Marine Corps General Officer.

Basilone, a member of the U.S. Marines, received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his action during the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942 and the Navy Cross posthumously for more heroism in the Battle of Iwo Jima where he was killed in 1945. He is the only Marine to have received both honors as well as return to action and then be killed in action.

Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com

Mike Deak is a reporter for mycentraljersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles on Somerset and Hunterdon counties, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: M*A*S*H* star Loretta Swit featured in John Basilone Memorial Parade