Another Parade........But This One for Real Heroes

New York, New York

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....well in the stores anyways but here is one of the big trees that decorates the city this time of year. I am sure in the next few weeks I will see a lot more.

No matter what the season.......someone or something in the city is going to tell you off......it's the New York way.

Well today is Veteran's Day here in the US. Of course that is Remembrance Day back in Canada and like back home it is a holiday down here. Because of that I didn't have to work. I am still on orientation and they of course won't give us holiday pay for orientation so I had the day off.

The Posse.....well part of it anyways. They are actually heading the wrong way but we would see them later again in the parade. Although the term posse is used to describe many things including a temporary police force or a gang involved in crimes such as running guns (I know how opposite can you get), I of course am using the term to refer to a group of black cowboys (and cowgirls).

Remembrance Day has come and gone for me that last few years and I was trying to remember the last time I had attended any type of a ceremony honouring our veterans and troops. It has probably been since high school. I decided today that I would at least spend some time at the New York City Veteran's Day Parade. A round of applause and some flag waving is the least I can do.

Gotta love the old school police car.

So the parade started on 25th street travelled along 5th avenue all the way to 56th street. It was a long parade route. It was scheduled to start at 1100 and I managed to get there by 1020. Of course an 1100 start time meant at 25th street but I was watching the parade from 50th street so it was much closer to 1200 before the first parade participants came wondering by.

Members of the Veterans Motor Car Club of America showed off their pride...for their country and their cars.

I had never heard the term before but everyone on the street were calling these guys "Doughboys". I had to look it up. It was a term most commonly used to describe US Army infantry men in World War I although the term actually dates back to the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848. Obviously these guys are not actually Vets of World War I but they played the part really well.

Members of the crew of the USS New York. The USS New York is the US Navy's newest ship and has been built with metal recovered from the World Trade Center site.

The parade was lead off by Parade Grand Marshal Spann Watson, a veteran of World War II. He fought with the Army Air Corps and happens to be one of the famous Tuskegee Airman (I know I have mentioned them before, but to refresh all of our memories the Tuskegee Airman were a group of black pilots who flew in World War II.) Then newly re-elected New York City Mayor Bloomberg and NY Governor David Paterson walked by. Pretty sure this will be Paterson's last parade. He is not doing very well in the recent polls and the Governors race is heating up right now.

Paterson is the guy in the red tie with the flag. Bloomberg is the guy on Paterson's left with the black overcoat.

There were many groups of US soldiers marching by. This was the loudest of the bunch.

After that we saw active members of all the branches of the US Military including the National Guard, The Army, The Navy, The Marines and the Coast Guard.

Members of the Army showing off their guns.

Mmmmm....Marines.

Look, the Army plays music too.

And then the Vets started to come by from every war the US has been involved in. Of course there were also Vets lined up along side the rest of us on the street. Not everyone can walk all those blocks so some just waited until their group walked by and there were lots of handshakes and hugs and "hellos" and "welcome homes".

Not sure if he walked the whole parade route or not but for some reason I feel like he did.

A lot of Vietnam Vets on hand, both in the parade and in the crowd.

Of course I did get a few weird looks because I was the lone person along the street holding a Canadian flag among all those American flags but the Vets seemed to understand. I even got a few hugs from them. Apparently they always loved fighting along side Canadian troops. There also was one Mountie in full Red Surge in the parade. He was pushing someone in a wheelchair.

Never did figure out who that group of Vets were and why the Mountie was there but I have to tell you......it is always nice to see piece of home.

By the time the last group came by it was 1530 (3:30pm). My original plan was just to stay for an hour or so but after a couple hours I was so committed that I just couldn't imagine leaving before the end. There were lots of Junior ROTC High Schools and that kind of thing and I figured if those kids waited that long they deserved to have someone there as they marched by.

Yes this little guy did travel along the parade route along side some very large military vehicles. It was just kind of cute.

These are members of the MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) Police. That little guy must have been marching with his Dad......and he tried his hardest to keep in step.

Of course the parade also had marching bands from all over the US including Ohio and South Carolina. Here is a video of the Isiserettes from Des Moines Iowa. They performed at Obama's inauguration in January. They're pretty good.

These guys in blue are one of my favourite groups. They are members of The Doe Fund. Basically it is a program that is set up to help men get off the streets. They provide a paying job, and housing and all that kind of thing. It really is a great program. Check out the website. http://www.doe.org/

So the review of my second parade in just under a week.....much better than the first, although there were a lot less people.

Julie