Mary T. Zelonis, a native of Mahanoy City, was chosen by the Tamaqua American Legion to serve as the Grand Marshal of the Tamaqua Veterans Day Parade Saturday.

Zelonis attended local schools, graduating from Mahanoy Area High school in 1972, and on July 31st, 1972, enlisted in the Womans Army Corp. She completed basic training at Ft. McCellen, Alabama and was promoted to the rank of Private E2 upon graduation.Her advanced Individual Training was completed at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas where she became a Basic Medic. She spent the next several years working in Army Hospitals at Ft. Lee, Virginia and also at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas. During this time she was temporialy assigned to Ft. Chaffee, Arkansas, in support of Operation New Life, the relocation of Vietnam refugees. In April of 1976, she was sent to Letterman Army Medical Center, Presidio of San Francisco, CA, where she attended the Army's Practical Nurse Program graduating on February 4th, 1977.Upon completion of this course she was assigned to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC. From there she was assigned overseas to Landstuhl Army Regional Medical Center, where she worked for the next several years. Arriving back in the states in 1982, she was assigned to Kimborough Army Hospital, Ft. Meade, MD, where she was in charge of the emergency room and the OB/gyn clinic for the next two years. She than had and intra-post transfer to the 10th MASH, where she served as squad leader, platoon sergeant and operations nco respectively.In 1988, she was instrumental in supervising the 10th MASH's relocation to Ft Carson, CO. In 1989, she took over duties as training nco in the 517th Medical Company (Clearing). It was while assigned to this company that she was deployed to Saudia Arabia in support of Operation Desert Shield in October of 1990. In January 1991, Operation Desert Shield became Operation Desert Storm and the 517 Med CO was deployed to Iraq. The entire unit returned home in May 1991.Zelonis retired from the US Army in September of 1992. Since retirement, she has been active in her local Veterans Organizations. She is a life member of the VFW and DAV, a Charter member of WIMSA, a member of the Mahanoy Area United Veterans, and a member of the American Legion where she currently holds the position of Eastern Section Historian and is a Deputy Commander in the 13th District. She also participates and provides support in many other veteran support events and functions.