Liberty University and Virginia Military Institute will be represented in the upcoming presidential inaugural parade.
The Liberty band and the entire VMI Corps of Cadets are among five Virginia units that will take part. The other entries are from Benedictine College Preparatory in Richmond, Fork Union Military Academy in Louisa County and the TAPS College Experience for Teens and Parents in Arlington County. TAPS is a nonprofit that works with military or veteran families who have lost a loved one.
This will be the 16th inaugural parade in which the VMI corps has marched, starting with the inauguration of William Howard Taft in 1909.
The others were 1913 and 1917 for Woodrow Wilson, 1949 for Harry Truman, 1953 for Dwight Eisenhower, 1961 for John Kennedy, 1969 and 1973 for Richard Nixon, 1977 for Jimmy Carter, 1981 for Ronald Reagan, 1989 for George H.W. Bush, 2005 for George W. Bush, 2009 and 2013 for Barack Obama and 2017 for Donald Trump.
LU Praise, a Liberty choir, performed at the Inaugural National Prayer Service in 2017, but this will be the first time a Liberty contingent has marched in the parade.
In all, the inaugural parade will include 39 groups, according to an inaugural committee spokesperson.
