Howard County Justice of the Peace Quail Dobbs said the parade, which is set to begin at 10 a.m., will get started near the west side of the parking lot at Coahoma High School's Bulldog Stadium, moving south on N. First Street.

Dobbs said the parade will make its way through Coahoma before heading north again, ending up back at the same football stadium.

“The parade will be very similar to what we had last year,” said Dobbs.

This year's parade will feature three marshals, according to Dobbs, and each one of them knows full well the true price of our nation's independence, then and now.

“Our first parade marshal, Eddie Vela, was born and raised in Texas, and joined the U.S. Army in 1952,” said Dobbs. “He served in Korea for eight months, and during that time was awarded numerous medals.”

Among those medals, according to Dobbs, were the National Defense Service Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, United Nations Service Medal, the Korean Service Medal with one Bronze Star and the Korean Presidential Unit Citation.

“After the conflict ended in Korea, Eddie was shipped to Japan, where he spent one year,” said Dobbs. “After he returned to the U.S. from Japan, he re-enlisted and was sent to Germany, where he stayed until November of 1957. In 1959 Eddie became a barber, moving to Big Spring in 1961, later opening his own barbershop in Coahoma called the Hi Way Barber Shop.”

Dobbs said the second marshal for Saturday's parade will be Homer Jay Miller, a native of Paris, Texas, who served in the Army from 1953 until 1955.

“During his time in the Army, Jay was stationed at Desert Rock, Nev., right outside of Las Vegas,” said Dobbs. “They did atomic testing at Desert Rock, and Jay remembers vividly the ground looking like glass after they would blast. He's really an amazing guy that has done some wonderful things in his life.”

The third marshal set to be honored during the parade  is J.R. Bennett, a Coahoma resident who served his country during World War II in the 146th Engineer Combat Battalion.

“J.R. has been awarded a Bronze Star, Silver Star, the Good Conduct Badge, five Bronze Battle Stars, a Bronze Arrowhead and the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater Campaign Medal,” said Dobbs. “He's a native West Texan and was 18 years old when he was drafted into the Army. He was assigned to work with the U.S. Navy on one of the demolition teams that hit the beaches of Normandy June 6, 1944, at H-hour, which was 6:30 a.m.”

Despite his impressive collection of military citations, Bennett said fancy ribbons and medals were the last thing on his mind during his time in combat.

“I wasn't really thinking of medals when I did what I did,” said Bennett. “All I was thinking of were my buddies. It was more than just a brotherhood between us. It was like you were married, and there was nothing we would not have done for each other.”

For more information on the parade, contact Dobbs at 394-4000.

Contact Staff Writer Thomas Jenkins at 263-7331 ext. 232 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it