2025 Grand Marshals

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As we mark the twentieth anniversary of the annual Veterans Day parade here in Florence, we continue to fine-tune the event that honors the Veterans of our community. The parade Board of Directors this year established a formal policy to honor two Veterans each year as Grand Marshals, as we enjoy a veteran population roughly two and a half times the state’s average. The new policy includes naming either a younger Veteran and an older Veteran, or a male Veteran and a female Veteran.

For our 2025 Grand Marshals, we have selected an appropriate pair of local Veterans, husband and wife team Charlie & Terri Pennington, both US Army Veterans who served in Vietnam and Korea.

In 1966, Charlie had enlisted in the US Army as a Chief Warrant Officer specifically to fly helicopters in Vietnam, called ‘Dustoffs’. In 1965, Terri enlisted in the US Army as a nurse while attending St. Francis School of Nursing in LaCross, Wisconsin. She was a Lieutenant. Even though she outranked him, it was inevitable that their paths would cross.

Florence residents since 2000 after relocating from Portland, Oregon, the Penningtons met in 1967 at Ft Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, where Terri was learning how to do things the Army way, such as shoot a gun, and how to set up a field hospital. When they met on a blind date, Charlie was already a medivac helicopter pilot getting some medical training before going to Vietnam. They spent every day together after meeting and two weeks before Charlie went to Vietnam, they decided to get married at Ft Gordon hospital chapel June 30th, 1967. Most of the people that attended were Terri’s patients in their pajamas pushing IV poles. 

After Charlie was in Vietnam 6 months, Terri received orders for Ascom, So Korea. While in Vietnam, Charlie had been shot down while rescuing soldiers. One of his more memorable missions was rescuing an Air Force crew who had been declared dead, but he found and rescued them. After his tour there Charlie joined Terri in Korea in July, 1968 stationed near her duty station at Ascom  Airfield south of Seoul. His officer quarters, which consisted of a Korean War helicopter crate that was made into housing, became their first home together.

During his time flying dustoff duty, Charlie was responsible for rescuing nearly 1,200 GI’s, including a mission into North Korea to retrieve the body of a deceased crew member from the USS Pueblo incident. On his final flight while in Vietnam, a local woman actually delivered her baby while on board his chopper.

Terri meanwhile, in addition to treating wounded GI’s returning from Vietnam while she was stationed in Korea, also attended to the returning POW’s from the USS Pueblo in December 1968.

While Terri had to relinquish her career in 1969 when she became pregnant with their first baby, Charlie went on to be a dustoff instructor before his discharge in 1970. Terri eventually continued her nursing career in the civilian sector, and Charlie went into corporate management with NPR following his Army career.

While discussing their selection at a committee meeting, I reminded committee members that even in civilian life, as the wife, Terri still outranks Charlie. After 58 years of marriage, they are blessed with one granddaughter and three great-grandchildren.

Thanks for your service Penningtons!