Ollie Has Big Day--Even if Ollie Couldn’t Make It

OLLIE, Iowa —  The Ollie Big Days Parade was held Saturday without the invited guest of honor, Marine Lt. Col. Oliver L. North.

The town invited North to be grand marshal of the parade after his fame skyrocketed when he testified in the televised Iran- contra hearings.

City leaders decided to try to capitalize on the similarity of North’s nickname and the name of this town of about 230 when the post office began to get requests for Ollie postmarks.

North was replaced as parade marshal by Ollie Rosella Paxton, a former Ollie resident, and Don Ollie of Milwaukee.

“I’m having a ball,” said Ollie, who was wearing a T-shirt with the legend: “It’s Ollie, by golly.”

Ollie, formerly of Des Moines, said he considered North a hero.

“I think what America needs is a little more patriotism,” Ollie said. “Call it flag-waving, if you will. Maybe we need a little more of that.”

Resident Francis Fye had drawn attention to the town in southeastern Iowa by putting up signs on Iowa 78 south of town saying “Ollie North” after North testified.

“I don’t think anybody expected him to be here. But it’s been fun,” Fye said. “If he’d a showed up, we’d have taken care of him.”

One float carried pictures of North and a sign reading: “Ollie, we wish you were here.”

Postmaster Bill Northup, who drove a truck in the parade carrying a sign saying “America’s Most Famous Postmark,” sent the invitation to North. “It’s just too bad we didn’t get an acknowledgement of our letter,” he said.

About 700 people turned out in 90-degree heat for the parade, which featured homemade floats, antique cars and a miniature military tank with a sign saying “Ollie Sent Me.”