Albany’s parade, historically been the largest Veterans Day Parade west of the Mississippi and the third-largest in the United States, began in 1951 when local ex-Marine Jim Barrett and the Linn County Marine Corps League decided to make Linn COunty the most patriotic in the country after a “spiritless” celebration of what was then Armistice Day.
Armistice Day is an international commemoration held each Nov. 11 to celebrate the signing of the armistice that ended…