Louie White, a Navy veteran of the Vietnam War, has worked on the Veterans Day Parade in Albany for years.

This year, he'll head the event.

White, 64, of Lebanon, was elected July 2 as president of the Veterans Commemoration Association, the organization that puts on the parade and other Veterans Day events.

He takes over for Dale Clark, who succeeded longtime VCA president Pat Moritz in January.

Clark heads the Oregon chapter of Operation Homefront, a nonprofit troop and family support organization. "Because of his association with that, he felt he had a conflict of interest and stepped down about two weeks ago," White said.

One Veterans Day eve tradition is the Veterans of the Year Banquet.

Since 1998, more than 140 people have received the Veteran of the Year honor, with multiple honorees each year.

This year, White said, the VCA has decided to return to the format that was in place from 1956 through most of the '90s. One veteran will be named Veteran of the Year.

"We will probably have three finalists," he said.

There will also be two new parade organizers, Patty Louisiana of Newport and Tanya Kramer of Albany.

"Those two ladies are the keys to our success, not just for the parade but for the (Vietnam Memorial) Traveling Wall (which comes to Albany's Timber-Linn Park next week). Patty has two kids in the military."

White said the parade on Wednesday, Nov. 11, will start on time.

"I don't know how often the parade didn't start on time," he said. "It will this year."

To help fund the event, the group will soon send out letters requesting donations from past supporters, according to parade board member Bill Clotere.

White and his wife, Lorna, have three children, seven grandchldren, two great-grandchildren and another one on the way.

Son Mike Pomeroy served in the Navy during Operation Desert Storm. Another son, Air Force Tech Sgt. Travis Pomeroy, is serving in Afghanistan. Granddaughter Michelle Whiteaker served in the Army in 2001 and '02 in Germany.

White, a member of the Albany Union High School Class of 1962, served aboard the aircraft carrier USS Kearsarge during his Navy service from 1965-69.

He suffered a significant loss of hearing during those years, "from working on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier with no hearing protection," he said.

White retired in 2006 after working for 13 years as a production forklift operator at Weyerhaeuser's Truss Joist plant in Millersburg. Before that he worked at the Simpson Plywood mill in Millersburg until its closure in 1989.

White is a member of American Legion Post 10, 40 & 8 Voiture 891, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 584, Disabled American Veterans Willamette Chapter 17 and the Vietnam Veterans of America Mid-Valley Chapter 585, which has been nominated for this year's national top chapter award.

He also served on the board of directors of the Vietnam Veterans of Oregon Memorial Fund. The memorial opened in 1987 in Portland.