About 4,000 Veterans Day parade marchers braved early rain, then sunshine, then bitingly cold winds as they snaked through downtown Denver on Saturday morning.
“Who needs confetti when we have so many leaves blowing around?” joked Andy Grieb, a disabled vet and parade chairman for the Denver United Veterans’ Council.
A steady drizzle of rain caused some groups, including about 50 El Jebel Shriners, to back out at the last minute from the parade, which came a week before the actual holiday on Friday.
But the streets dried quickly in the bright sun and marchers of every sort passed through the start at Colfax Avenue and Bannock Street. They ranged from gray-haired and bearded war veterans to tiny grade-school girls from the Young Champions of America cheerleading groups.
Dozens of Corvettes, PT Cruisers and motorcycles, bedecked with flags and flowers, idled down the streets.
About 1,000 ROTC junior cadets from area high schools marched with disciplined cadence, making up the largest single group of marchers.
Brian Riley, 16, dressed sharply in his blue ROTC uniform, marched with his Gateway High School unit.
“ROTC is a very good way of learning self-discipline,” Riley said politely. “But I don’t plan to go into the military.”
Said his mother, Tracy, “We love the military but our family has contributed enough,” listing her father, uncle and grandfather as veterans.
Judy Bell felt the opposite, watching with her daughter, Sally, 9, as her son, Matt, marched by with his George Washington High School ROTC unit.
“He (Matt) wants to go to the Air Force Academy and become a fighter pilot,” she said. “I don’t support the war in Iraq. But both my husband and I will support him in his dreams.”
Compared with St. Patrick’s Day or the Parade of Lights, Saturday’s parade was unusually quiet due to a noticeable lack of bands. One cheerleading group blasted Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” out of a truck-mounted loudspeaker while five bagpipers and a drummer bravely marched in their kilts.
“It’s a day for all Americans to say ‘thank you,”‘ said U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar. “Our freedom is a result of a lot of sacrifice and lives.”
Staff writer Mike McPhee can be reached at 303-820-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com.
