Event to honour city's US World War Two troops.An event remembering the basing of US troops in Leicester during World War Two is to take place.
The 82nd Airborne Division was headquartered at Braunstone Park in the months before the D-Day landings in Normandy in June 1944.
A museum and a memorial stone for the parachute regiment are sited within the walled garden of the park and a small commemoration service is held annually.
This year's celebration on Saturday has been expanded to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two and will include military vehicles, re-enactments and a rifle salute.
Braunstone History Group traditionally celebrates the US troops on 16 August as it coincides with National Airborne Day across the Atlantic, marking the anniversary of the first official Army parachute jump in 1940.
Mr Dodd said the US troops arrived in March 1944 and made "quite an impression in the community".
"The local people in Leicester welcomed the Americans with open arms," he said.
"They had nylons, cigarettes and chocolate - we have got some packets of nylons in the 82nd Airborne museum in Braunstone Park."
The group is hopeful of a good turn-out for Saturday's celebration.
"I think visitors will get a sense of what communities were like in the past on the brink of war, and some pride in what people did to entertain the troops and make them feel at home," said Mr Dodd......