Former WAVE To Be Honored At Veterans Day Parade

By Emory Bryan, News On 6

Jenks, OK -- Tulsa will honor military veterans Tuesday with a parade downtown. The veterans will honor a woman who spent two years in the service and a lifetime serving veterans.

She's the grand marshal of the parade and she earned the honor by serving veterans and the country through the American Legion.

"I was a WAVE," said Evelyn Poe.

Mrs. Elizabeth Poe has taken on many duties in her lifetime, but this one is new.

"I said to them I've never been a grand marshal, what do I do?  And they said: Just wave," said Poe.

Mrs. Poe is 87-years-old. She is the grand marshal for the Tulsa Veterans parade. She answered the call to duty right out of high school, during World War II.

"And I lived way out in the country and I thought ‘Gee whiz, I need to go out and do something with myself', and so that's what I did," said Poe.

She served two years as a hospital apprentice in California, helping wounded sailors.

Female veterans like Mrs. Poe are a focus of this year's holiday in Tulsa.

"Just to give them honor, to let them know their contribution to the country is just as valuable as the male version," said American Legion Post 1 Vice Commander Lisa Milner.

Mrs. Poe went on to raise five children who all live in the Tulsa area.

Back then she and her sisters had a sense of style, and that played a part in the decision to join up.

"And we were wondering what we should do, should we join the Army or the Navy, and that's where the Army comes in.  We thought we would look better in Navy blue than olive drab, so we joined the Navy," said Poe.

Mrs. Poe raised her children as a single parent, after her husband was killed in a car wreck in 1951. After they were grown, she volunteered in many roles with the American Legion and they picked her as the grand marshal.