During those days, the regular Army then called the Liberian Frontier Force (LFF), used to combine with units of the national militia to have joint parade on special occasions, such as Independence Day, Inauguration Day, etc. However, in 1954, the late Colonel Francis M. Dean, then Assistant Chief of Staff (G-2), recommended in his annual report to the Defense authority that a day be set aside by an act of the National Legislature to be styled and known as “Old Soldier Army Festival” a day on which units of the Liberian Armed Forces throughout the nation would assemble at their respective headquarters to jointly participate in field ceremonies of parades and other planned military exercises.