WESTPORT – Joseph H. Schachter, a World War II United States Navy veteran, has been selected to serve as grand marshal in the Westport Memorial Day Parade on Monday, May 30, it was announced recently by William Vornkahl, president of the Westport Veterans Council.
Vornkahl cited Schachter’s dedicated service to both the military and his hometown as the reasons for his selection. Schachter, 90, is a member of Congregation Beth El in Norwalk.
As a commissioned Navy officer, Schachter served in the Pacific aboard the Wilkes Barre in Japan’s Tokyo Bay and China’s upper Yellow Sea. After graduating from Trinity College in Hartford, he spent 30 years in the advertising field at the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency, before founding Concrete Flotation Systems, a Norwalk-based company that produced floating docks of marine grade concrete.
In 1966, he founded the Minuteman Yacht Club, serving as its first commodore.
The Westport Memorial Day Parade will begin at 9 a.m. on Riverside Avenue, followed by memorial services on Veterans Green.