Famous Ankles

At the start of the NYC Veterans Day Parade, I was next to a mother and daughter from Ohio.  They had lived in NYC for some time, but had left about five years ago.  The mother was a little upset that her city driving skills had atrophied over the years and she had had a run-in with another motorist.  She was talking with the official film photographer (noted in Part 1) and me and he kept saying she probably deserved the screaming-at she received.  I have to agree (she had blocked someone from parking without realizing it and not even bothered to steal the space when she encroached; she just prevented the person from reversing and waited and waited).

But, despite her adrenaline rush, they were happy to be back and were waiting to see the daughter’s high school marching band from Pickerington Central High School:  the Marching Tigers.

Apparently, there were a number of families that showed up for it, too.  There were lots of cell phone calls and plans and strategies for getting the right photos from the right angles at the right time.  It was actually very fun to listen to them debating how/whether they could sneak onto the street to grab a front-photo and how they would accommodate getting the pictures of the daughters’ closest friends and classmates.  I thought it was a bit overwrought, but I wasn’t aware of how big the band was.  And, I will also admit that the band was pretty good.

After they came by, veterans from the USS Intrepid came.  The ship, a WWII aircraft carrier, is undergoing maintenance and will be back at its dock near 42nd Street and the Hudson River next year.  It’s open year-round for tours.

Right after them came some vets traveling in style.  I imagine the cyclist had himself a great time and I hope he got a big tip.

A wonderful set of soldiers then came by.  The “tin can sailors”.  That means that these vets were on destroyers during WWII.

The next was something really special, but I didn’t realize it until I was writing this.  A truck came by with the ship’s bell of the USS Murray (DD97).

The reason it was special is its source, or rather, the service of its source.  As far as I can determine, it was the only part of the parade that was WWI-specific.  There were some marching groups that existed in WWI (like the Fighting 69th), but nothing was specifically from that time period except that bell.  The guy on the flatbed was ring it and it sounded good. 

Another very small group of note:  the China-Burma-India veterans association.  These men fought in one of the forgotten theaters of WWII.  It isn’t that forgotten, though.  Remember that Louis Mountbatten was “the Earl of Burma” and Vinegar Joe Stillwell were participants in that theater.

Behind them was the Hartselle High School Marching Band from Hartselle, Alabama.  Yeah, I had to take a picture or two.

The next group was a group of airborne paratroopers:  the 187th Infantry Rakkasans.

Their website notes that this regiment fought in WWII, Korea, Lebanon, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Persian Gulf and that their motto is “Let Valor Not Fail”.  They also have another statement “The Right of the Line” which apparently denotes their traditional position alongside other regiments.

 

Following them were a lot of Korean War vets.

Even Republic of Korean veterans of the war.

More in the next post.

-H

Explore posts in the same categories: Events, Manhattan, Mid-town, Parades

This entry was posted on November 13, 2007 at 7:20 pm and is filed under Events, Manhattan, Mid-town, Parades. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.