By Bill Forry
Managing Editor

Parade officials are still finalizing minor details of this year's (June 4) Dorchester Day parade- but the overall theme of the neighborhood's celebration is set in stone: Tributes to the sacrifices of local men and women serving in the armed forces will be front-and-center as the parade steps off on its three-mile hike up the avenue.

A US Navy destroyer, the USS Nitze DDG- 94, will steam into Boston Harbor next week to join the Dorchester Day festivities.

A contingent of invited officers and crew, led by the ship's commander Michael A. Hegarty, will march at the head of the parade, which will step off at 1 p.m. from the corner of Richmond Street and Dorchester Ave.

This year's starting point marks a slight departure from past Dorchester Days, in which the parade began at Pierce Square- the intersection of Adams St., Washington St. and Dorchester Ave. Most of the parade will form this year on Richmond Street, which- like Dorchester Ave.- will be closed off to traffic and parking in the hours prior to the parade. The parade, which draws crowds upwards of 100,000, follows a traditional route up Dorchester Ave. to Columbia Road.

This year's parade chief marshal is Fields Corner's Craig Crowley, an Army reservist with the 368th Combat Heavy Engineers, who served in Iraq for twelve months. Crowley's father, Ed, the parade's clerk, says the parade is be dedicated to "all the men and women of Dorchester that have served and are serving in the military."

"It's important for us to carry on the tradition of the parade for the veterans who started it, as well as for the community of Dorchester," said Crowley." The parade has become a meaningful local event that has grown with the community and will continue to be a source of neighborhood pride."

Nearly 20 marching bands will punctuate a roster that includes a flurry of politicians, local schools and non-profits. Musical units will include the Boston Police Gaelic Column, First Panamanian Marching Band of Boston, Spartans Drum & Bugle Corps, and the Thomas Kenny School band.