Vets celebrated in L.B.
By Tom Harshbarger
Daily Forty-Niner
Hundreds of people lined Atlantic Avenue in North Long Beach Saturday
to watch the third annual Long Beach Veterans Day Parade.
Along the avenue American flags affixed to light poles gently swayed
in the breeze, each accompanied by one red, one blue and one white balloon.
"I love it -- I get goose bumps up and down my body," said 52-year-old
Vietnam veteran Joe Santiago of Long Beach.
"It gives me a sense of pride, that we won't forget about what we've
done in the past."
The parade route stretched along Atlantic from Houghton Park to Market
Street, turning around at Market and heading back toward the park again.
The parade participants included military and high school bands marching
to the chest-rattling rhythm of bass drums and horns.
Vintage jeeps and modern military vehicles rumbled along the street,
and many different groups of veterans marched proudly for spectators.
The U.S. Marine Corps Band, its members sharply attired in their dress-blue
uniforms with gleaming white caps and gloves, helped celebrate the event.
Stan Chambers of KTLA Channel 5 News was the grand marshall. He, like
many of the participants, rode atop a camouflage-painted Humvee and waved
to the crowd.
Among the more spectacular sights were a huge, 20-by-40-foot U.S. flag
and a bare-chested man with a long, white beard riding a three-wheeled
scooter.
He had several colorful and patriotic tattoos on his upper body and
a large blue parrot riding on the windshield.
Among the spectators was 80-year-old Arthur Laflamme, who served in
the Army Air Corps in World War II and survived the attack on Pearl Harbor.
He said he also served in the European Theater during the war through
V-E Day and has been a Long Beach resident for 50 years.
"There's a lot of dedicated people walking in this parade," Laflamme
said. "Even the old coots are out there." |