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Squadron marches on the 4th

Members of the Howard Composite march in the Clarksville Fourth of July parade.
Members of the Howard Composite march in the Clarksville Fourth of July parade. (Photo by Douglas Minnema)

By 2nd Lt. Todd Riebel
Howard County Composite Squadron Public Affairs

7/10/2006–Laurel, MD–Members from the Howard County Composite Squadron in Group I in the Maryland Wing of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) participated with a number of other local organizations in the Howard County Independence Day Parade held in Clarksville, Md. on July 4.

Eleven seniors and cadets marched the entire 1-mile parade route. Two senior members also trailed the marching unit in the squadron’s van. Other members of the squadron along the parade route provided general information about CAP to interested spectators.

The marching unit and van were a highlight of the parade, which included emergency services equipment, several classic cars, Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts marching units, and a variety of commercial vehicles.

The CAP cadets and seniors received among the most applause and standing ovations of all of the parade participants.

Squadron participants were:

  • Col. Cleophas Hockaday
  • Maj. Elza Redman
  • Capt. Terri Taylor
  • Capt. William J. Taylor
  • 2d Lt Charlotte Redman
  • Senior Member Peter DeNucci
  • Cadet Maj. Kevin Finson
  • Cadet Master Sgt. Carolyn Hockaday
  • Cadet Tech. Sgt. Jenna Taylor
  • Cadet Tech. Sgt. Matthew Taylor
  • Cadet Senior Airman Neil Lagola
  • Cadet Senior Airman Robert Minnema
  • Cadet Airman Justin DeNucci

The parade, the fourth annual Independence Day Parade held in Clarskville, was dedicated to pay tribute to the symbolism of the American Flag. The parade route began at Clarksville Middle School and ended at the Fifth District Volunteer Fire Department.

CAP, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with more than 60,000 members nationwide. CAP volunteers perform 95 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counterdrug missions at the request of federal, state, and local agencies.

Members take a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the almost 25,000 young people currently participating in the CAP Cadet Program. CAP's cadet programs provide young men and women with a safe and motivating environment in which to grow and explore opportunities in the military and aviation industries. CAP has been performing missions for America for more than 63 years.

There are approximately 1,300 members of CAP in Maryland. Last fiscal year wing members flew 34 search and rescue missions and were credited with 23 finds.

For information about the Maryland Wing of CAP, visit http://mdcap.org/ or listen to weekly episodes of "Civil Air Patrol Today" broadcast every Sunday morning on the following radio stations:

  • Annapolis, MD - WYRE-AM 810, 8:00-8:30 a.m. ET
  • Baltimore, MD - WFBR AM 1590, 8:00-8:30 a.m. ET
  • Ocean City, MD - WKHZ-AM 1590, 7:00-7:30 a.m. ET
  • Potomac, MD - WCTN 950 AM, 6:00-6:30 a.m. ET
  • Rockville, MD - WLXE-AM 1600, 7:00-7:30 a.m. ET
  • Washington, DC - WZHF-AM 1390, 7:00-7:30 a.m. ET

In addition, programs may be listened to at the Maryland Wing web site at http://mdcap.org/radio/ and can also be subscribed to as a podcast.

Maryland Wing Public Affairs also offers an e-mail alert system for news releases. When news breaks, a subscriber receives an automatic e-mail with a summary of the news release and a link back to the story on the MDWG web site. Signing up for e-mail news alerts is easy. Just go to: http://mdcap.org/?fuseaction=newsalert.form and fill in your e-mail address.

The Howard County Composite Squadron meets 7 p.m. Thursday evenings at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd., in Laurel, Md. Prospective cadets, ages 12-18, and their parents are always welcome. For more information e-mail credman@tristartech.net or call 410-531-3310.