Malden Veterans Day 2021: Parade Returns In Person

MALDEN, MA — Malden's annual Veterans Day parade returns in person this year. The ceremony kicks off at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 11 at the Malden American Legion Post 69, 75 Meridian Street, after a memorial service at 9 a.m.

The parade route will differ from previous years, forming on Meridian Street and heading onto Wigglesworth Street, then proceeding to Main Street and continuing north before turning left onto Pleasant Street.

The parade will end at City Hall Plaza with a performance in honor of this year's grand marshal, Cornelius "Connie" Murphy, who has served as post chaplain at American Legion Post 69.

For more information about the parade or to participate, call the Malden Veterans Office at 781-397-7139 or email kjarvis@cityofmalden.org. All groups are advised to call the Malden Veterans office to confirm that they will be participating in the parade and provide the name of a point of contact and telephone number for the group.

Veterans Day, commemorated annually on Nov. 11, was first celebrated in 1919 to honor those who fought in World War I. It was initially called Armistice Day and was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.

The holiday's origin is tied to the armistice, a temporary end of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany signed in France on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

It became Veterans Day in 1954, shortly following the end of the Korean War and less than a decade after World War II, after various veterans service organizations urged Congress to encompass veterans of all wars in their honor.