Organizers call crowds largest turnout ever
The crowd waves to parade participants.
/ FOX21 News
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- Thousands lined the streets in downtown Colorado Springs Saturday morning to honor the men and women who serve in the armed forces.
The parade is one of the largest Veterans' Day Parades in the U.S. This year it featured more than 100 floats.
The parade started downtown at St. Vrain Street, and continued south on Tejon to Vermijo. It lasted just over an hour and a half.
The parade committee spent about $35,000 on the parade. All of that money was raised through donations.
About 8,000 people walked down Tejon Street in the Veterans' Day Parade, and about 30,000 lined the streets to show their support.
Support for today's parade was the most some veterans say they have seen in years.
"Many of our previous Veterans' Day Parades and Memorial Day celebrations we would come downtown and there would be more veterans on the street marching than there were spectators. Tthat has certainly changed today," says US Army retired Lt. Col. William Sheaves Jr.
Sheaves was gunned down over Paris, France in World War II and spent nearly two years as a prisoner of war (POW).
"Having spent two years in a POW camp, I learned what this country means to the individuals in the country. No other country in the world gives opportunities to its citizens the way this country does," says Sheaves.
He along with Retired U.S. Air Force Major John Oliphint II were the parade's grand marshals.
Oliphint served in four US. wars and escaped two different POW camps, once in World War II and once in the Korean War.
He says that experience taught him a lot about people.
"You can always find good people anywhere in the world. You can find bad ones too, yes and I found a lot of them," says Oliphint.
It's men and women like Oliphint and Sheaves people lining the streets are thanking today.
"With our soldiers being over there at war, I think it's so important for them to see all of us out hitting the streets and celebrating them and standing up for them," says Shelly Davis.
"We need to come together as a country and show our love," says Ann Norton.
"I'm a disabled vet, and a lot of my friends have paid the ultimate sacrifice. And a lot of them are still serving, and it's important we honor their service and their sacrifice," says Ronald Watson.
To the veterans FOX21 News talked with, seeing the support and that they are appreciated is what makes Veterans' Day so meaningful to them.
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