It was cold this morning. 35 degrees when I checked my iPhone when I stepped out of my car around 10:50 on Commercial Street. I didn’t have gloves on (stupid me, but I was operating a videocamera, after all) and I only had a fleece sweatshirt on so I knew I’d be uncomfortable for awhile.
My job sent me to the Springfield Veterans Parade this morning, and I’m glad it did. I would have gone out of my own volition even if the N-L would not have found reason for me to go.
It was a neat little parade. From the 135th Army Band right here in Springfield to the Strafford High School marching band and even the Shriners driving their tiny little “vans,” it was a good little experience to honor our veterans. I even had the opportunity to talk to Springfield City Councilman (and WWII vet from the 101st Airborne Division) Ralph Manley for a little bit.
The only thing was, I counted maybe two hundred spectators all morning.
Two hundred. Over a fifteen-block radius.
Maybe it’s because it was too cold. Maybe it’s because the media didn’t do a good enough job promoting it. For whatever reason, only two hundred people. I hope there were more that sneaked in when I was done counting.
I am proud of those that were there. I saw one man braving the cold, holding an American flag high during the entire parade. I saw a few kids saluting the Army band members as they walked by in full battle dress.
And I also saw this, something my colleague and friend Amber captured for all to see:
A gentleman, standing alone on the corner of Commercial and Jefferson, holding up his unit’s patch and wiping tears from his face.
When I saw that, tears welled up in my eyes.
I don’t cry often. Very rarely, if ever, do my eyes get moist over anything.
But when I saw that man holding up his unit patch, and then wiping his face — I initially thought it was because he was so cold, but then on a closer look we realized he had been tearing up — it evoked an emotion in me that I have not felt since I returned from the war in Iraq in May 2006.
I cannot describe that emotion. If I put it into words it couldn’t adequately capture what I felt when I saw that gentleman.
All I know is it brought a reinvigoration of the pride I felt in serving my country for four years, and knowing there are many others doing the same — and many who won’t be coming back here to their native soil.
And I wish there were a few more people out there today to pay tribute to that.
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