Special Needs Program

Another Cavalier-sponsored program pertaining to the annual River Parade is the John M. Gaddis Special Needs Program. For more than 37 years Cavalier Gaddis has coordinated the annual viewing of the River Parade by disabled or otherwise physically impaired local residents.

The Program was begun in 1965 when Gaddis was asked by the River Parade leadership to oversee some fifty patients from Wilford Hall Medical Center, Audie Murphy VA Hospital, and Brooke Army Medical Center who had been invited by the Cavaliers to watch the parade. Through the tireless efforts of John Gaddis there are almost three hundred people from more than twenty local organizations specializing in civilian and military disabled who view the colorful event each year free of charge.