Grand Marshal Named For 2023 Westport Memorial Day Parade & Services

The following announcement is from the Westport Veterans Council:

WESTPORT, CT — William Vornkahl, President of the Westport Veterans Council, announced Thursday that the Grand Marshal for the Memorial Day Parade and Services will be Ben Pepper.

Ben was born in the Bronx on July 5, 1923. He was drafted into the Army on New Year’s Day 1943 and was trained as a paratrooper. He would have participated in D-Day, but he had broken his back on an earlier jump and was in a near full body cast. He was in the Battle of the Bulge and was discharged in October 1945.

He answered an ad to be a photographer, and in 1953 he opened his own studio in Stamford. In 1958 he bought property in Westport and a house in which he still lives.

The parade will be held on Monday, May 29, beginning at 9:00am on Riverside Avenue, to Post Road East to Myrtle Avenue to Main Street, and ending at Parker Harding Plaza. The Memorial Day Program will begin immediately after the Parade on Veterans Green. In case of rain, the program will be held in the Town Hall Auditorium beginning at 10:30 am.