St. Louis (KSDK) - The organizers of the welcome home parade for Iraq war veterans are asking the kids of St. Louis to make "thank you" and "welcome home" signs to display along the parade route.
"We encourage St. Louis to turn out in droves in the same way we turned out for the World Series Champion Cardinals Victory Parade. We understand that this is quite an undertaking, but the entire St. Louis community, including our youngest residents, are coming together to help make this parade an amazing success," said grassroots organizer Craig Schneider.
Christel Tuha is working on one float. Plastered on the side is a depiction of a very special moment: the moment Major Rick Radford came home from his second tour in Iraq.
"I felt somebody grab my hand and it was my daughter and she just said daddy I missed you," said Radford.
Now it has become a symbol of all this parade stands for: A warm welcome home for Iraq veterans.
"I know it's going to be completely emotional for so many people," said Radford.
Veterans like Radford say they are overwhelmed by what they're seeing.
"I've had so many friends here in St. Louis that are combat vets like myself and they're like I'm going are you going? Well yeah I'm going to go. So it's just going to be fantastic," said Radford.
Volunteers had less than a month to pull this event together. There are currently 300 volunteers scheduled to help out, 75 floats registered, two high school marching bands set to perform, and the Budweiser Clydesdales will make an appearance.
"There would be one jump after the next that we had to do, and we kept jumping and jumping. And now we're full on steam force and we're having a parade on Saturday. We're so excited," said Tuha.
On Friday, January 27, the names of all 6,502 men and women killed from injuries sustained in Iraq or Afghanistan will be read beginning at 9:11 p.m. at Soldier's Memorial. The reading is expected to last until 9 or 10 a.m. Saturday morning.
The parade is Saturday, January 28 and begins at noon. It will start at Kiener Plaza and ends at Union Station with a Veterans Resource Center inside Union Station.
In addition to signs, organizers still need help with other areas of organization.
Name readers are still needed for Friday night. Readers must either be veterans or family members of veterans. If interested, call Mat LeBlanc at 314-363-3715.
To donate, volunteer, or enter the parade, visit The Mission Continues website.
For parade-related inquires, e-mail iraqwelcomehome@gmail.com.
For general parade information, visit the official website.
To distribute or print flyers for the event, click here.
To view the parade route, click here.
Don't forget to follow the parade on Twitter!
KSDK