Veterans and bands marched five blocks down Springfield’s Capitol Avenue Friday for the annual Veterans Day parade. The grand marshal was Leon Carter, 95, a Black man who served in a segregated Marine Corps during World War II.
“We got on the ship, and it was integrated, but when you hit the beach, the Japanese didn’t care if you were Black or white,” said Carter.
Retired Chief Petty Officer Phil Brown of Riverton, one of the parade’s organizers, had an interesting perspective, having served both in Vietnam and in Desert Storm. He said the reception Americans gave – or, more accuately, didn’t give – the Vietnam veterans was so poor he voluntarily stayed in Vietnam another three years. Twenty years later, the welcome for Desert Storm servicemen and -women was “180 degrees.”
The Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs put on the parade.