Alpharetta honors Old Soldiers Day Parade, Legion Post work

Mayor Arthur Letchas declared this Tom Delorme Recognition Week for his long-time service as Old Soldiers Day Parade chairman and other community endeavors.

Delorme, who turns 80 this week, shared that public recognition at Monday night's council meeting of his accomplishments with many of his American Legion Post 201 buddies and all the former chairmen of the parade, starting with the Post's founder.

Post 201 Commander Jack Harrison opened the recognition, saying he was there to honor a very good friend. Harrison detailed Delorme's participation in Post projects that include the Boys State scholarship program.

"He's been a pillar in this community as far as I'm concerned," Harrison said.

The parade would not be the success it is today without Delorme's efforts, he said.

More than 10,000 area residents spend hours watching the 3,000-plus parade participants march down Main Street and over to the Legion Post each August despite it without fail being the absolute hottest day of the year.

Old Soldiers Day has its roots in post-Civil War veterans taking the hottest week of the year off from farming to bivouac in Alpharetta.

"At the end of the week, they marched down Main Street and said goodbye to the citizens," Delorme said.

As the veterans got older and their numbers dwindled, they invited the young World War I veterans to join them in the tradition. As the years went on, those soldiers died and the tradition seemed to end with them.

"In 1952, a gentleman by the name of Mel Coalson, who started American Legion Post 201, said it's a wonderful tradition, let's start it again," Delorme said.

Based on the warm welcome he got at the meeting, and what all those honoring him were saying, Delorme is not worried about the parade's future.

"Old Soldiers Day, wherever I go, will have a safe future and be in your hands for as long as it needs to be," he said.

After receiving a plaque from his Post Commander, it was Mayor Arthur Letchas's turn to make his proclamation, which noted Delorme's service in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War, his Post 201 work and being a former Legionnaire of the Year.
- www.northfulton.com

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