Thank You, Veterans

I went to the Veteran’s Day Parade up 5th Avenue. As many pictures I’ve included here, many many more didn’t come out well. I really have to get my camera in for repair. Camera troubles aside, it was a perfect day for a parade, and there was a great turn-out, thank God. I remember not a few heart-breaking years when there was almost no one there to cheer on the vets.

The guy on the left was my parade crush. I always develop a crush on someone at the parade. He was wearing a wedding ring, so it was just a fantasy crush! But I talked to him briefly. A reporter was asking him questions, but she didn’t follow up on some of his most interesting answers. So I delved a little deeper myself, and his responses gave me an idea for a book.

Here is my parade-crush forsaking me for the pretty girl dressed in a flag and draped in a flag.

Note to self: Do not mess with the 25th Infantry Division.

Stacy Horn

I've written six non-fiction books, the most recent is Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad, and Criminal in 19th-Century New York.

View all posts by Stacy Horn →

4 thoughts on “Thank You, Veterans

  1. How wonderful to see such a great turnout for Veterans Day!!! So glad that the storm aftermath did not deter the respect that they deserve. Sadly I don’t think it was the same on LI as people are still trying to get back to normal (not that they are not in NYC). Hope all is well with you.

  2. Great shots as usual! where else can I get such great coverage of what’s happening in NYC? nowhere. thanks, Stacy, have a fantastic week.

  3. Thanks for the info — I did not see any coverage of this parade on the news; it’s still All Sandy All The Time.

    I’m still shocked when I see Vietnam vets looking like old me. The Vietnam war was such a big part of my childhood, with the protests against the war and the body count on the nightly news and the boys in my high school class all sweating the lottery. In my mind, the soldiers of that era are still young men.

    My little sister (17 years younger than me) got married last month and she went to Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia for her honeymoon. For her generation, Hanoi is the new Paris. I can’t get used to that, either.

  4. Yeah, that kind of thing always blows my mind. One of the Vietnam vets I talked to banged on his knee while he talked about the titanium replacement he got in Japan. I said, “Ironic, isn’t it? An American soldier going to Japan for treatment for a war injury?” He agreed.

    Michael, thank you so much for the compliment!

    Karen, we have many fewer people without power in Manhattan. Most of us have had it back for a while now, so no excuses. That said, prior to 9/11 attendance was always pretty dismal.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Share via
Copy link
Powered by Social Snap