Photo by Jon Anderson
Celebrate Hoover Day 2018-23
Members of the Howlin' Mad Smith Detachment of the U.S. Marine Corps League re-enact the famous raising of a U.S. flag during the invasion of the Japanese island of Iwo Jima in February 1945 during a Veterans Memorial paver dedication ceremony at the 2018 Celebrate Hoover Day at Veterans Park in Hoover, Alabama, on Saturday, April 28, 2018.
The city of Hoover is switching things up a little this year and moving its annual program to honor the city’s veterans from the Hoover Public Library to the Finley Center at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex.
The annual Thank a Vet program also is moving from a Sunday afternoon to a Friday morning. This year’s program is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 3, and is expected to last 60 to 90 minutes, city officials said.
The format will be similar to the past, including a flag-lowering ceremony in which five veterans will be honored, and the city will recognize this year’s winner of the Freedom Award, Roy Brook.
Instead of the Alabama Youth Symphony playing, this year the Hoover High School band will provide the patriotic music.
The Hoover Public Library, as in years past, will have displays to honor veterans and other events to celebrate the nation’s military veterans throughout the month. On Nov. 7, from 5 to 7 p.m., veterans are invited to network and have dinner with various service organizations.
Then on Nov. 17, from 2 to 4 p.m., the Hoover Library Theatre plans to show the 1951 movie “The Frogmen,” which tells the story of how a new commander of a Navy underwater demolition team called Frogmen tries to earn the respect of the men in the unit, who are still grieving over the death of their former commander.
