2018 Veterans Day Parade Theme
​Special Salute to WWI Veterans-the war that changed the world 

2018 GRAND MARSHAL

Grand Marshal, Earl Lewis Hurt, WWI

Earl Lewis Hurt,Sergeant, U.S. Army (World War I)
We are excited to announce that Earl Lewis Hurt, U.S. Army Sergeant has been posthumously named as our 2018 Boise Veterans Parade Grand Marshal.  Sgt. Hurt represents so many amazing Idaho heroes that served our country in World War I.  Idaho provided over 19,000 soldiers to World War I. Of these 782 died overseas.

Sgt. Hurt was born in Eagle, Idaho on December 10, 1895.  Assigned to the Tank Corps, he was deployed to France in 1917. He was shot while exiting his tank and broke his leg. While he was in rehabilitation for his broken leg, he joined the Army Band playing the trombone.  

Upon being released from the U.S. Army, Sgt. Hurt came back to Boise, got married, and had a son.  They suffered an unimaginable loss, and their son died at the age of 4. Soon after, Sgt. Hurt and his wife divorced.

In 1935, he married the love of his life Catherine O. Mott in Boise Idaho. They had two beautiful children, Carolyn and Kenneth. He also started his own business, Boise Barring and Machine Shop. When barrings were replaced by sleeves, Boise Barring and Machine Shop went out of business. Sgt. Hurt went to work for Peerless Pacific Refrigeration where we repaired large industrial refrigerators. After working hard for many years, he retired in the late 1960s.

Sgt. Hurt was a member of the Veterans of WWI, Sawtooth Barrack #217 and the Boise City Band.

On June 22, 1972 Sgt. Earl Lewis Hurt died in Boise Idaho. He was laid to rest in Dry Creek Cemetery and at the time was survived by his wife, 2 children, and 5 grandchildren.
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The Boise Veterans Parade considers it an honor to have Sgt. Earl Lewis Hurt as our Posthumously Grand Marshal and to have his family represent him in the parade.