Two WWII Vets to Lead July 4th Parade

The Catonsville Fourth of July Celebration theme echoes the commemoration of the bicentennial of the War of 1812. After all, it was the battle at Fort McHenry that prompted Francis Scott Key to pen the “The Star Spangled Banner.”

Fittingly, the committee wanted a war veteran to lead the parade. When Ed Tecco received word that he had been selected as Grand Marshal for the 66th annual parade, he immediately asked to share that honor with fellow World War II veteran and friend, Jim Barlow.

Both men will exhibit their military pride as they take their place in the lead convertible. Barlow will don a commemorative Army cap with blue and gold trim, embroidered on two sides to indicate he fought in both the Battle of the Bulge and Omaha Beach, in the European theater. His wardrobe choice: a blue dress shirt with gold tie and black dress pants.

For Tecco, it means wearing one of the Marine-issued brown shirts he wore in combat in the Pacific and a camouflage hat with Marine Corps pins affixed. Of his choice, Tecco responded that he is a casual kind of guy. “I had to wear a shirt and tie my entire working career.”

Both are extremely proud of their military service and the tradition of Catonsville’s Fourth of July Parade. “I have never missed a parade,” said Tecco. “Ever since I was a little kid, I have loved a parade.”

Their flag-waving patriotism carries over to the two widowers’ homes. Barlow has a tall flagpole with an American flag in his spacious backyard and Tecco, weather permitting, flies an American flag and a Marine Corps flag from two front porch columns.

Barlow did serve as grand marshal in 1994, which was the 50th Anniversary of D-Day. “I have the banner from that parade, which read ‘Survivor of D-Day’.” He serves as Spirit of America Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6458 Commander and his friend, Ed Tecco, is Post Advocate.

In recalling the D-Day invasion as part of the 29th Infantry Division, artillery. Barlow said: “We were carrying the battle directly to Hitler’s doorstep.”

He would later serve in both the 1st Army, led by Gen. Courtney Hodges, and the 3rd Army, led by Gen. George Patton, in the largest and longest land battle of the war: the Battle of the Bulge. 

When Barlow returned from service in 1947, he used the G.I. Bill to learn the masonry trade and, ultimately, to own his own business.

Since his wife died 15 years ago, he has returned to the battlefront on three occasions, most recently in 2004 when he and 150 fellow veterans of the Battle of the Bulge spent two weeks as expense-paid guests of the Belgian government. “They were most appreciative of our efforts,” said Barlow. 

For 15 years, Barlow volunteered in a battlefield of a different kind: the emergency room of St. Agnes Hospital, doing whatever he could to help, from making coffee for the nurses to covering patients with warm blankets.

When Ed Tecco began college at Miami University in Ohio, he entered the Marine Reserve Corps, but soon requested active duty and was sent to Parris Island boot camp in April 1943. He served in the 1st Marine Division, Pacific Theater, against Japan, including the battle for Peleliu, which he recalled as “one of the worst battles we had.” 

Later in his service, he said, “Six of us were stationed with the U.S. Army 26th for the invasion of Japan.”

What wasn’t known at the time was that the Japanese had 200,000 troops awaiting them had they invaded by land. “The dropping of the atomic bomb saved our lives,” said Tecco.

After leaving active service in November 1945, he used the G.I. Bill to complete his degree at Georgetown University, graduating in 1951. Some of Tecco’s largest battles lay ahead.

As a member of the U.S. Civil Service Commission when the Voter’s Right Act of 1965 passed, Tecco volunteered as a poll watcher to enable African Americans throughout the South to vote. He recalled sitting at a coffee shop in Selma, Al., when someone slipped a piece of paper under his plate. It read: “The Klu Klux Klan is watching you.” On another occasion, he was threatened at gunpoint in Perry County, Al.

Tecco spoke with pride of registering 85 African Americans to vote who were doing so for the first time in their lives.

Later, as an EEO officer, he investigated cases of discrimination. While handling a case at the National Security Administration for a woman denied promotion in 1974, he wrote a decision requiring that all promotion panels have at least one female representative. That decision stands today.

On July 4, Tecco gets to sit in the lead car, waving a small American flag, his friend at his side, leading the largest parade in the state of Maryland.  It doesn’t get better than that.

Barlow believed it fitting that two vets from WWII serve as this year’s grand marshals. He said: “Sixteen million fought in it; today, only 2.5 million are still alive.”