2018 Toms River Memorial Day Parade Set For Monday

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The Toms River Memorial Day Parade, sponsored by George P. Vanderveer American Legion Post 129, is set to step off Monday, May 28, personnel at the American Legion confirmed Tuesday.

The parade, which will mark 84 years of existence (the 2017 parade was canceled amid heavy downpours last year) will follow its usual route, organizers said.

The parade assembly begins at 9 a.m. in the parking lot near the Office Lounge, and departs from there at 9:30 a.m.

Marchers will head east on Highland Parkway, south on Main Street and east on Washington Street to Toms River's Town Hall, where ceremonies honoring military members who gave their lives will be held.

The American Legion Post invites civic and service organizations, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Brownies and Cub Scouts, as well as church groups and others to participate.

The parade will be followed by a service at Post 129 on Church Road at 2 p.m.

There also is a ceremony in South Toms River following the parade at the monument to submarine veterans. The Jersey Shore Base of the U.S. Submarine Veterans have been marking Memorial Day yearly for more than a decade at the site.

The memorial -- a Mark 14 torpedo from World War II mounted on a base, surrounded by stones and bricks inscribed with names of those who sponsored the memorial or honoring someone's memory, with small stone columns and a heavy chain -- was established by the borough of South Toms River in 1997.

You can read more about them here: Submarine Veterans Keep Memories, History Alive.

Photo by Karen Wall, Patch staff