The Wellesley Celebrations Committee has organized a Wellesley’s Wonderful Weekend lineup for May 18-19 that features all the traditional favorite activities, plus new attractions and surprises.

The theme of the 56th Annual Veterans Parade and Wellesley’s Wonderful Weekend is “honoring the 200th Anniversary of Modern Battlefield Medicine Advancements.” Many medical milestones pioneered on the battlefield over the past 200 years have been adopted throughout medicine to greatly benefit our world, according to the organizers.

Featured at the parade will be an L-5 Sentinel, a restored WWII Okinawa medical evacuation aircraft that will fly above the parade route. Also traveling under its own power down the parade route will be a World War II tank.

Leading up to the weekend, see historical displays at the Wellesley Free Library highlighting battlefield medicine and attend a presentation, “From Battlefield to Operating Room,” on Wednesday, May 15 featuring keynote speakers Retired Brigadier General Dr. Andrea Gayle Bennett, Deputy Secretary, Executive Office of Veterans Services, and Retired U.S. Army Major Dr. Brian O’Connor, MASH physician, Operation Desert Storm.

The weekend schedule includes open houses at the Fire Department and Police Station as well as other locations; “Touch a Truck” hands-on display at the Department of Public Works; Living History Presentations at Morton Field; the Pancake Festival; Art Displays; Nature Walks; an Antique Car Show; the Town Picnic and Concert; and of course, Sunday night Fireworks.