Retired U.S. Marine Corps Colonel Walter Conner will lead Hightstown Borough’s Memorial Day parade as its grand marshal when the marchers step off May 27.
Conner, who lives in Hightstown Borough, will be front and center of the parade when it kicks off at 9 a.m. The parade starts on Stockton Street near the Grace N. Rogers Elementary School, winding its way through the borough and back to Stockton Street at the Walter C. Black Elementary School.
Along the way, the marchers will stop at the Civil War Memorial Park at the intersection of Stockton Street and Rogers Avenue. Members of Post 444 of the Jewish War Veterans will perform a small ceremony. The marchers also will stop at Memorial Park on Main Street, adjacent to Peddie Lake, and make their way back to Stockton Street.
In addition to Post 444, members of the Hightstown Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5700 will march. They will be joined in the parade by Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, volunteer firefighters from the East Windsor Township, Hightstown and Cranbury fire departments and the Hightstown First Aid Squad.
The Hightstown High School marching band and the Melvin H. Kreps Middle School band will take part in the parade. Many other community groups will march in the parade, including the Hightstown Rams Pop Warner League cheerleaders and the East Windsor Police Athletic League.
The Hightstown High School FIRST Robotics Team, the Hightstown Apollo Lodge No. 41 F & M, the Next Level Mentoring program and the Hightstown East Windsor Historical Society will round out the parade marchers.
The parade’s grand marshal has lived in Hightstown Borough since 1974. He and his wife, the former Patricia Byrne, raised eight children. He taught social studies and history at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South before retiring in 2021.
Conner enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1967 during his sophomore year at Rutgers University. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1968.
He earned his Army and Navy aviator wings and was assigned to a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter training squadron in California. He was sent to Vietnam in November 1969.
Conner served as an assault helicopter pilot during his tour in Vietnam. He earned a Purple Heart for injuries he received when his helicopter was shot down by enemy fire in the jungle.
He returned to the United States in November 1970 and was assigned to the U.S. Marine Corps air base in California as a search and rescue pilot. He was released from active duty in 1973, but continued to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve until 1998.
Conner joined the New Jersey Naval Militia in 2003 and retired in 2016.
He earned numerous medals during his military career. In addition to the Purple Heart, he received the Air Medal, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the U.S. Navy Achievement Medal, the U.S. Army Commendation Medal and the Selected U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Medal.
Also, Conner earned the National Defense Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal with three bronze stars, the Armed Forces Reserve Medal and the Vietnam Campaign Medal.