A Pittsburgh Steelers legend will lead the 91^st annual South Hills Memorial Day parade.

Mt. Lebanon resident and Purple Heart recipient Rocky Bleier will become the first-ever marshal of the largest Memorial Day parade in western Pennsylvania.

The four-time Super Bowl champion running back was drafted into the Army in his rookie season with the Steelers and served in Vietnam with the 196th Light Infantry Brigade. Despite suffering serious wounds, he refused to quit playing football. His story was chronicled in the book Fighting Back and in the 1980 made-for-TV movie Fighting Back: The Rocky Bleier Story.

Bleier was the special guest at Thursday’s parade kickoff event at The Historical Society of Mount Lebanon, 794 Washington Road, attended by community members, local politicians and a number of veterans, including 98-year-old World War II vet Joe Kallist, who will ride in this year’s parade, something he’s done for about five or six years, “to remember the veterans,” he said.

Since its inception in 1934, the parade, which marches through Brookline, Dormont and Mt. Lebanon, has been operated by the South Hills Memorial Day Parade Association. Organizers are looking for community support and volunteers to keep the parade going for years to come, and hope Bleier’s involvement will help them accomplish that.

“It’s a great honor. I don’t know whether my presence will make a difference, but if it gets us some publicity, if we can get people aware of what’s happening and why it’s important, then they’ll come out and support this Memorial Day parade,” Bleier said.

“We were honored that he accepted the invitation to be our grand marshal this year,” said Brian Peltz, first vice president of the South Hills Memorial Day Parade Association, a group that meets once a month from January to May to help plan the parade. “It’s a labor of love that we do for our veterans. We want our communities of Brookline, Dormont and Mt. Lebanon to see and hear the veterans, come out and thank them for their service.”

Concerned the parade would not happen in the future due to a lack of volunteers, the idea of a grand marshal to promote the event was tossed out. “Some people don’t even know we have a parade and we need to get the word out more, and we need to ask for donations. We’re all unpaid volunteers but the musicians, the bands, the talent, we do pay for,” Peltz said.

The Parade Association is looking for volunteers to solicit ads for the parade program, act as parade marshals on parade day, help line up participants, and contact musicians and various other performers to make sure the parade is on their calendar, among other tasks.

“After its 90-year history, for it to not exist would be a shame and take something away from this community,” Bleier pointed out.

The significance of the parade and Bleier’s involvement was not lost on Elan Green, a fifth-grader at Jefferson Elementary, who covered the kickoff event and interviewed his football hero for the school newspaper, the Jefferson Journal. “It was the last issue, so I had to go big and that’s what I thought of. It was great,” he said.

Originally known as Decoration Day, Memorial Day honors members of the U.S. military who died while serving their country, including 221 residents of Brookline, Dormont and Mt. Lebanon since World War I.

“The important thing is not to forget,” Bleier said.

The South Hills Memorial Day Parade starts at 10 a.m. Monday, May 26 at the canon on Brookline Boulevard, then proceeds to Pioneer Avenue through Dormont to Mt. Lebanon Cemetery. Marching bands, veterans groups, scouts and other community organizations will participate.

For more information on the parade and to sign up to volunteer, email southillsparade@gmail.com or visit their Facebook page. The