Clifton Park National Guard officer will lead the New York City St. Patrick's Day parade

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Lt. Col. Shawn Tabankin

• NY Army National Guard Soldiers march in the 2019 New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade .

LATHAM, NEW YORK (03/08/2022) (readMedia)-- When the world's biggest St. Patrick's Day Parade kicks off down New York's Fifth Avenue on March 17, a Clifton Park resident will be leading the way.

New York Army National Guard Lt. Col. Shawn Tabankin, who lives in the Saratoga County community, will be out in front of the 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry, a New York city-based National Guard unit which has led the New York St. Patrick's Day Parade since the mid-19th Century.

Tabankin, a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, took command of the "Fighting 69th in December 2021.

"Since 1851 the 69th Infantry Regiment has provided a military escort to the St. Patrick's Day parade and, for us, it is a day where nearly every action taken is a nod to some portion of our long and storied history," Tabankin said.

The 69th was organized in 1849 as a New York militia regiment for the Irish immigrants who were flooding into New York.

But the influx of Irish immigrants sparked a backlash. Afraid that anti-Irish mobs would attack the parade, the organizers asked the citizen soldiers of the 69th Infantry to lead the annual procession which was first held in 1762.

The 2020 parade was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic just days before the 1st of the 69th Infantry was supposed to lead it for the 169th time.

Although the parade was canceled, Soldiers from battalion, joined members of the parade committee in marching up 5th Avenue in the early morning hours of March 17, 2020 to keep the tradition going.

On March 17, 2021, 50 face-masked Soldiers conducted an abbreviated parade once again to maintain the traditions of the St. Patrick's Day Parade.

His Soldiers are looking forward to this St. Patrick's Day Parade, Tabankin said.

The battalion's Soldiers have been deeply involved in the two-year New York National Guard response to the COVID-19 pandemic and they are now focused on preparing for a deployment to the Horn of Africa for a security mission, Tabankin said.

"It represents a return to normalcy following the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of the Soldiers marching have been on the front lines of the COVID response mission and this parade will mark the point where we transition from our state mission back to our federal one as we prepare to deploy," Tabankin explained.

During an event held at the Lexington Avenue home of the New York Army National Guard's 69th Infantry Regiment, parade organizers said that 2022 will be the biggest parade that has ever been held.

Over the years, a number of rituals and symbols from the regiment's history have been tied to the parade, Tabankin said.

The unit's Soldiers have distinguished themselves in the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and in deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan since Sept. 11, 2001.

The nickname "The Fighting 69th" supposedly comes from Confederate General Robert E. Lee. He is said to have referred to the Irish-American unit as "that fighting 69th regiment" following the battle of Fredericksburg in 1863.

The regiment has also featured in popular culture.

The 1st Battalion 69th Infantry is the subject of the Irish folk song "The Fighting 69th," about the Civil War, most recently sung by the group Dropkick Murphy's. The regiment's World War I service is the subject of the 1940 movie of the same name starring Pat O'Brien and Jimmy Cagney.

In 1981 novel "Cathedral", author Nelson DeMille portrays 69th Infantry Soldiers battling terrorists in St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the 2003 Civil War movie "Gods and Generals" depicts the 69th Infantry going into battle at the Battle of Fredericksburg.

Because of the regiment's roots in Irish-American history St. Patrick's Day is also the 1st Battalion, 69th's "Unit Day," during which the battalion's Soldiers are recognized for their accomplishments.

Tabankin is not the first Clifton Park resident to lead the St. Patrick's Day parade. Maj. Gen. John Andonie, who now serves as the deputy director of the Army National Guard, was he commander of the 69th Infantry in 2008 and 2009.

The traditions surrounding the 69th Infantry and the parade include:

• Soldiers place a sprig of boxwood on their uniform because members of the Irish brigade put boxwood springs in their hat bands at the Battle of Fredericksburg on Dec. 13, 1862 to mark their Irish heritage;

• Officers of the 69th carry a fighting stick made of blackthorn wood imported from Ireland because they are considered the mark of an Irish leader and gentleman;

• Soldiers are accompanied on their parade march by two Irish Wolfhounds, the official mascot of the 69th Infantry. The dogs are representative of the regimental motto, "gentle when stroked, fierce when provoked";

• The battalion commander carries the "Kilmer Crucifix," the religious icon once worn by poet Joyce Kilmer --the author of the poem "Trees"-- who was killed in action serving in the 69th in World War I;

• The regiment's officers start the day with a toast of Irish whiskey;

•The regiment attends a special Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral to honor the regiments fallen and honor its Irish heritage prior to the parade;

• When 11 a.m. rolls around the parade organizers ask the battalion commander of the 69th is ready. The Soldiers roar back that "The 69th is always ready;

And when the Soldiers return from the parade and begin their unit day ceremonies, they are cheered by the battalion's officers who render honors and pay tribute to the enlisted Soldiers and Non-Commissioned Officers.