A farewell ceremony for the Maryville-based Howitzer Battery, 1st Squadron of the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment is scheduled for Sunday, December 6, 2009. The unit is scheduled to depart for Camp Shelby, MS where it will prepare for its February deployment to Iraq.

County Mayor Jerry Cunningham will serve as Master of Ceremonies with opening statements beginning at 8:30 a.m. Next, Boy Scout Troop 81 will present the flag and lead the group in the Pledge of Allegiance followed by singer Jackie Midkiff with a special musical tribute. City of Maryville Mayor Tom Taylor, Alcoa City Manager Mark Johnson and Blount County Mayor Jerry Cunningham will recognize the unit with a joint proclamation from the three governments. State Senator Doug Overbey will present the group a Tennessee state flag to take with them and retired 278th Chaplin Pastor Richard Blackburn will give the closing invocation.

Due to space and parking limitations at the armory, the farewell ceremony will only be open to family members, but the public is invited to show their support and bid farewell to the regiment along the parade route as it departs. The regiment will depart at 9:15 a.m. They will leave the armory at 1732 W. Lamar Alexander Parkway by turning left onto U.S. 321 and continue to W. Broadway Ave (U.S. 411) through Maryville. Next, they will make a left hand turn on to N. Cusick St., taking Calderwood St. and Louisville Rd. through Alcoa. Then they will turn left onto Alcoa Hwy. (U.S. 129) going back to Lamar Alexander Parkway past the armory one last time as they travel to Lenoir City where they will be joined by the Pigeon Forge detachment on to their final journey to Camp Shelby.

The 278th is the state's largest combat unit and is comprised of more than 3,300 soldiers hailing from armories in Kingsport to Henderson in West Tennessee. All of the various armories across the state will be saying goodbye to their men and women at about the same time. The regiment was last deployed in 2004 and 2005 and stationed in Iraq's Diyala province and others stationed in Kirkuk and Baghdad.

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