FORT RILEY, Kansas – More than 1,000 Soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley will march in the annual Sundown Salute Parade in Junction City as part of the city’s five-day Fourth of July celebration.

The parade begins at 10 a.m. near the intersection of Eisenhower and Sixth Streets. It will move east down Sixth Street, concluding at Adam’s Street, near Heritage Park.

The largest contingent of Soldiers marching in the parade will be from the Combat Aviation Brigade, which returned in November and December from a successful 15-month deployment to Iraq. Four helicopters from the brigade – an OH-58 Kiowa Warrior, AH-64 Apache, UH-60 Black Hawk and CH-47 Chinook – will conduct a flyover of the parade route. Col. Jessie Farrington, commander of the CAB, will be available for interviews following the parade.

Col. Flem “Donnie” Walker, commander of the 1st Sustainment Brigade, will lead his unit’s colors, Soldiers and vehicles through the parade route. The brigade redeployed to Fort Riley from Iraq in December 2008.

All units from the 1st Inf. Div. and Fort Riley will be represented in the parade, including the 1st Inf. Div. Band and members of the Commanding General’s Mounted Color Guard.

Leading the Big Red One contingent will be 1st Inf. Div. and Fort Riley Commanding General, Maj. Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, 1st Inf. Div. Command Sgt. Maj. Jim Champagne, Spc. Clancey Henderson, the division’s “Soldier of the Year,” and Cpl. Avery Abbott, the “Noncommissioned Officer of the Year.” Brooks and Champagne will be available to the media prior to the parade in the parking lot of the Deever Administration Center, 1120 W. Eighth Street.

Following the parade, Brooks will speak at the Veteran’s Wreath-Laying Ceremony at noon in Heritage Park. During the ceremony, Brooks and Champagne will place wreaths at the 1st Inf. Div. Memorial. A firing squad and bugler from the 1st Inf. Div. Band will also participate.

For more information about Big Red One’s involvement in the Sundown Salute, contact the1st Inf. Div. Public Affairs office at (785) 240-0386/240-0484 or rile.pao@conus.army.mil. To see a full schedule of Sundown Salute events, visit www.sundownsalute.org.