FARMINGTON RESIDENT A GRAND MARSHAL IN NOVEMBER 3 “CONNECTICUT VETERANS PARADE”

Retired Staff Sergeant Chandler J. Howard of Farmington enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1968. After Basic Training in Fort Jackson, SC, and Helicopter Crew Chief School at Ft. Rucker, Ala., the Bridgeport native was deployed to Vietnam. As a Helicopter Crew Chief, he was charged with maintaining the aircraft which flew combat support missions in the Mekong Delta area in 1969 and 1970. Howard’s Bell UHID helicopter crashed during one of these missions and he and his crew exchanged hostile gunfire. After, the Staff Sgt. (E-6) continued his service in Vietnam for another six months. During his three years in the Army, his service awards included an Army Commendation Medal, Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, and 22 Air Medals.

After his honorable discharge in 1971, Howard began his long career in banking, starting as a teller. Today, he is the President and CEO of Liberty Bank, Connecticut’s largest and oldest mutual bank. Over the past four decades, he served in positions of increasing authority at People’s Bank, Fleet Bank, Bank of America, Connecticut Innovations, and First City Fund Corporation, before joining Liberty Bank in 2007. He currently is a member of the Federal Reserve Board Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council and of the American Bankers Association’s Mutual Bank Council. He also is the incoming chairman of the Connecticut Bankers Association. A respected leader in civic involvement – both personally and through his job, Howard recently completed a term as Chairman of the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce, and serves on numerous community and corporate Boards. He is the recipient of a 2012 Connecticut Executive Choice Award from the National MS Society – Conn. Chapter, the Middlesex United Way’s Tocqueville Society Philanthropy Award, and the Whitney M. Young Service Award from Connecticut’s Boy Scouts of America.

 Special event features will include a Wreath-Laying Ceremony to remember veterans at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch at 11:30 a.m., one hour before the parade begins. At 1:30 p.m., parade marchers will stop in-place for a Moment of Silence in observance of service members who died while serving their country. Parade volunteers will hand out American flags to spectators, and sell 2013 commemorative parade lapel pins. They also will have “Thank You, Veterans” materials that people can hold high as the parade marches by.

To register to march or get more information, visit www.ctveteransparade.org or call 860-986-7254.