Oregon National Guard honors veterans at Albany memorial service, 75th annual parade

ALBANY, Ore. - Howitzer fire rolled across Timber Linn Memorial Park on a foggy Veterans Day morning as Oregon National Guard Soldiers saluted the generations who served before them.

The Oregon National Guard joined veterans, families and community members in Albany on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026, for a memorial service at the Linn County Veterans Memorial and the 75th Annual Linn County Veterans Day Parade.

Soldiers with Bravo Battery, 2nd Battalion, 218th Field Artillery Regiment, fired the howitzer salute during the morning service. Sgt. 1st Class David Nelson commanded the gun crews, raising his arm to signal each round.

Brig. Gen. Alan R. Gronewold, The Adjutant General of Oregon, told the veterans and families gathered at the memorial that the day honors every generation that has worn the uniform.

"Each generation inherited that promise from the one before it, and each passed it on," Gronewold said. "That is what we honor today. Not one war or one era, but an unbroken line of service."

Gronewold tied that history to the nation's 250th anniversary, tracing Oregon's service from the 3rd Oregon Infantry in World War I to the 41st Infantry Division in the Pacific during World War II and to the deployments that have followed.

He also spoke about the bond that outlasts time in uniform.

"Ask a veteran what carried them through their hardest days, and very few will talk about equipment or tactics," Gronewold said. "They will talk about the person on their left and the person on their right."

That service continues today. In a Veterans Day letter to the force, Gronewold and the organization's senior enlisted leader and command chief warrant officer noted that nearly 200 Oregon Citizen-Soldiers and Airmen are serving overseas in support of multiple combatant commands.

Gronewold said the Guard's standing in Oregon communities was earned by those who came before. "We did not build that reputation ourselves," he said. "It was handed to us by the veterans in this audience. Our job is to be worthy of it, and to hand it on stronger than we found it."

After the service, the Guard moved downtown for the parade, which stepped off at 11:11 a.m. An Oregon Army National Guard color guard led Guard vehicles along the route, and Gronewold waved to spectators from one of them. Staff Sgt. Thomas Richards, drum major of the 234th Army Band, led the band past families lining the streets, where children waved American flags as the vehicles rolled by.

The parade, first held in 1951, is one of the largest Veterans Day parades in the country, and the Oregon National Guard has long been part of it.

The day's events followed the 75th Annual Veteran of the Year Banquet in Albany on Nov. 10, where Gronewold gave remarks and Anthony Tangermann, a U.S. Army Vietnam veteran, was recognized as the 2026 Veteran of the Year.

"To our veterans: thank you," Gronewold said. "Your service built the foundation every one of us stands on today."

Oregon National Guard members serve part-time, typically one weekend a month and two weeks a year, while maintaining civilian careers. They stand ready to respond to state emergencies such as wildfires and floods, while also training to defend the nation when called to federal service. Guard members live and work in the same communities they serve, creating a unique connection between military service and local communities.

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