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TOMS RIVER, NJ — Ocean County will honor those who have served in the military with Saturday’s Veterans Day Parade in Toms River.
The parade starts at 9:45 a.m. at the Toms River Shopping Center on Route 37, goes south on Main Street and east on Washington Street. The parade ends with a ceremony at Toms River Town Hall.
The parade includes military vehicles, elected officials, civic groups, first responders, high school marching bands, and vintage cars.
The ceremony at Town Hall, 33 Washington St., features speakers and honored guests, a rifle salute, and the placing of the wreath on the township’s Veterans Monument.
Main Street will be closed from Route 37 to Water Street at approximately 9 a.m., and Washington Street will be closed from Main Street to Hooper Avenue about the same time.
The 2023 grand marshals are Toms River residents George M. Convery Jr. and Robert “Bob” Hayes, who received honoring proclamations from the Toms River Township Council on Oct. 25.
Convery served in the U.S. Navy. He was born and raised in Toms River and worked for his family business, Convery Canvas in Toms River, until 1989 when he enlisted. He deployed to the Red Sea onboard the USS Kennedy for Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1990-1991 and then deployed on the USS Roosevelt for Operation Provide Comfort and Provide Promise from 1992-1993 as an aviation structural mechanic third class.
He received multiple military awards including the Southwest Asia Service Medal with two stars, Sea Service Medal with one star and two Kuwait Liberation Medals. He currently works for the Toms River Township Public Works in the Road Department as a heavy equipment operator and is a volunteer firefighter and Life member and Trustee at East Dover Fire Company.
Hayes, who has lived in Toms River for more than 62 years, enlisted in the New Jersey National Guard in 1953, then in the U.S. Army in 1955. He re-enlisted in the National Guard at the same time.
Hayes worked as a police officer for the Dover Township Police Department starting in 1964, becoming a detective over the course of his 26-year career before retiring in 1990. Hayes worked in his family business and became a member of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 10, where he worked with members of the Ocean County Courts and Probation Department, providing re-entry and community service projects for individuals within the court system.
Bob retired from the National Guard in 1993, but later became a member of the Funeral Honor Guard for the New Jersey National Guard.
Bob and his wife, Leonora, have four children and three grandchildren.
“We are honored, grateful, and thrilled to have such distinguished veterans serve as the parade’s grand marshals this year,” said Rich Monticello, Parade Chair of the Toms River Veterans Commission.
There is no rain date. If the parade is cancelled, a ceremony will take place in Town Hall in the L. Manuel Hirshblond Meeting Room at 10 a.m.
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