As the wife of a retired Air Force man, the mother of a newly graduated Marine I am apalled by the lack of attendance for todays parade!
There were more parade participants than attendees!
How hard would it have been for the citizens of Enid to roll out of bed and show their appreciation/gratitude for all the Veterans have done!
These folks are responsible for the freedom, liberty we take for granted as Americans.

You can stand for hours in the freezing cold for Candy Cane bucks but you can't show any appreciation for those that froze their butts off in WWII, Korea, Viet Nam or the current war in the middle east???

For Shame!!!!

It would have helped if more had known about it. I would have been there if I had.

New in town, as the grandaughter of a Pearl Harbor survivor and one survived the Battle of Midway, please do NOT judge how I honor our service men.

My grandfathers wanted no regonition during a parade or other organized festivities. My cousins who are currently serving feel the same. They prefered quiet, sometimes anonymous recognition, like paying for a service persons meal at a restaurant, sending care packages to our troops who are currently serving in Iraq and Afganistan, supporting the American Legion and when I lived in the OKC area, volunteering at the veteran's center.

I, for one, choose to follow my both grandfather's requests as a way to honor our service men and women; therefore, I feel none of your shame for missing a parade.

Yeah, me too. I hadn't heard anything about it, otherwise I would've gone. I don't think the issue of low turnout was not wanting to roll out of bed or Candy Cane bucks (whatever that is).

I know there are many military veterans (myself included) who are members of the forum whom I know honor and appreciate all our veterans who have served our great nation. So no shame here. And thanks to the families, friends and communities who continue to support the ones who currently serve.

I had to work today. I also did NOT hear about this until now. I don't ever go to parades and such in town. I guess you can call me what you want but not showing up for some parade don't neglect what I feel for these people.

As a RETIRED COMBAT VETERAN of the US ARMY... i knew nothing about the parade down town today until i was driving to my grandmothers house on the west side of town and seen the cops with the roads blocked off.. by that time it was tolate to change my plans for the day..some advance notice is usually required for me to attend anything for varrious reasons..and on top of that i have a kid who is sick and missed the last 2 days of school this week from being sick and there is noway iam gonna drag a sick kid out in the cool air to see a parade.


And i have multiple family members on both of my biological sides of my family and on both biological sides of my wifes family who are VETERANS or who are active duty at this exact moment so just because some one did not go to a parade dosent mean they donot support our VETERANS

I now come and apologize for spouting off in anger.

Please forgive me for speakingtyping before calming down. I recently spent a few days watching young Marines and their families in San Diego, listening to my own son speak with pride of being a military member and I got carried away in patrotic/parental pride.

My VETERANS DAY phone call list is almost as long as my christmas card list as veterans day is the day i contact all of my Army buddies and its a long long day on the phone

I honored my veteran today by saying, "thanks for all your hard work today, Daddy". He graciously helped me put up new drywall on my storm damaged wall. I also honor him (almost every time we talk on the phone) by listening to his stories of his Green Beret days. He used to never talk about his war experiences, but he does now. Very cool.

Spinster,

You are lucky your dad will talk to you. My grandfather (the Pearl Harbor one) did not want to share any memories with the family as he felt he was protecting us from the brutal evilness of war. I think he also suffered from survivor guilt until he died.

I do have a newspaper article from our hometown newspaper on the 50th anniversary of Pearl Harbor with a picture of him in uniform. He spoke a little to the newspaper directly but never to the family.

The only thing the Midway grandpa will share is his thoughts about eating rice. The best way to explain it is to say that I would equate his feeling about rice to be the same as Salt feels about chicken. Enough said!

One thing that conflicted for us was that the boy scout push mobile races were this morning at the mall. There were quite a few people there for that.

baseball mom

I know some of what you are talking about with your granfathers.. my step dad(i was grown and in the army when my mom meet him) never spoke of his WW II days and for the 15 years ther were married before he died she never once seen him with out a shirt on and the only thing he ever said to mom about it was thee letters POW mom knew he was severly scared because she could feel them thru his shirt and if she accidently touched him in certain places above the waist he would loose it for a while( not towards her thankfully)

he took his secerets to his grave.

My Dad just turned 91 last Sat...I send him cards n do other things..he was on the front line in ww2 as a medic....he still will not tell stories of that, but he will tell of places he has seen an been too..he is still in good health. His legs are starting to go now tho...he does enjoy telling stories of his travels and all his buddies etc.

As a driver of one of the floats, I would like to thank the people who did come out to the parade yesterday.

I think a lot of people didn't know it was going on. Hopefully next year I will try to remember to post it on the forums.

Thanks to all veteran for all you have done, and are doing for our country.

Salt, I wish my grandpa would have at least told us how he got his bronze star.

My grandmother did actually tell us that my grandfather was due to be discharged from the Army on December 8th. He had stopped in Hawaii on the way back to California, where my grandma was waiting for him so they could get married.

Needless to say they had to put their wedding day off about a year and he didn't get discharged on December the 8th!