WESTPORT — Edward Karazin, Jr., an Army veteran of the Vietnam conflict and longtime state Superior Court judge, has been named grand marshal of this year’s Memorial Day parade.

The town’s traditional salute to those who died in service to the nation is set for Monday, May 26. The parade, which steps off at 9 a.m., will be followed by a ceremony on Veterans Green.

Karazin’s service in the Army began shortly after he was married in 1965. He was deployed to Vietnam as a civil affairs officer in Quang Tin Province, where he served as a Military Assistance Command Vietnam advisor in the pacification program. During his military career, Karazin was awarded the Bronze Star medal and Vietnamese Gallantry Cross.

In 2021, he was inducted into the Connecticut Veterans Hall of Fame.

A graduate of Boston College, he earned his law degree from Fordham University. He worked in private law practice and as an assistant state prosecutor before being named to the Superior Court bench in 1990. He became a judge trial referee in 2010 and continues to serve in the Stamford/Norwalk Judicial District.

In the community, Karazin has done pro bono legal work for veterans and been active with Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 399. He has spoken at schools about his military experience, and leads the annual Veterans Day ceremony at the Stamford courthouse.

Last November, he was master of ceremonies for the town’s Veterans Day ceremony in Town Hall.

He has been a Little League coach and board member, Pop Warner board member, lector at Church of the Assumption and instructor for in-service training with the Police Department. 

He also was an adjunct professor at Western Connecticut State University, teaching legal writing and family law.

Memorial Day parade, ceremony

The parade, which starts at 9 a.m. Monday, May 26, will follow the usual route: The line of march begins on Riverside Avenue, heads east on Post Road East, crossing the Saugatuck River via the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Bridge, to Myrtle Avenue passing Town Hall, then to Main Street and ending at Parker Harding Plaza.

Theme of floats in this year’s parade is “Remember and Honor.”

Immediately following the parade, a ceremony paying tribute to the nation’s fallen will take place on Veterans Green. 

In case of rain, the program will take place at 10 a.m. in Town Hall.