thedrifter
08-18-06, 06:37 AM
Article Last Updated: 8/17/2006 06:28 PM
Two say parade will help vets of Vietnam War
BY CHARLES F. BOSTWICK, Staff Writer
LA Daily News
LANCASTER - Vietnam veterans Gary Chapman and Ray Santana want to welcome home all the soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen who came home from Vietnam more than 30 years ago to hostility or indifference.
After attending a national Welcome Home parade last Veterans Day in Las Vegas, Chapman and Santana are organizing Antelope Valley's own Operation Welcome Home parade on Nov. 11 along Lancaster Boulevard.
"If I can help one Vietnam veteran to find his peace, then all of our work will be worth it," said Chapman, who was a 19-year-old Army helicopter door-gunner in Vietnam and now works for Pratt & Whitney in Canoga Park.
Chapman and Santana said marching in the Nov. 11, 2005, Las Vegas parade was an emotional event, with thousands of people lining the parade route to cheer and shake the hands of the veterans walking past.
"I completed my tour of duty June 11, 1969, but I didn't begin my long march home until Nov. 11, 2005," said Santana, who was a Marine machine-gunner. "I was so emotionally moved by the event I shook as many hands as I could ... My eyes may have been filled with tears, but I couldn't stop smiling all the way down the parade route."
The Antelope Valley Operation Welcome Home parade is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Nov. 11, running along Lancaster Boulevard from 10th Street West to Sierra Highway. Spectators will be handed small American flags to wave.
Vietnam veterans will lead the parade, followed by veterans from other wars and eras.
High school bands, floats and color guards are expected to participate, as well as military personnel, past and present. Organizers are arranging a flyover by Air Force planes.
A ceremony and entertainment including a competition for high school band drum lines will follow at Boeing Plaza, beneath a pedestal-mounted Vietnam-era F-4 fighter jet.
"We want to invite our community to come on board and honor our veterans and military personnel who protect our freedom," Chapman said.
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3000 in Quartz Hill is a co-sponsor, with any funds left after operational expenses to go to the state veterans home scheduled to start construction next year in Lancaster.
Post 3000 commander Cliff Barth said more donations are still needed from local businesses and individuals to cover expenses.
Lancaster Mayor Henry Hearns, who served in the U.S. Army in Korea, said he will never forget his homecoming, arriving by ship in May 1955 in Oakland.
"From out before we entered the harbor, we could hear the music playing. The band was playing `California, here I come, right back where I started from.' It felt good," said Hearns, his voice breaking. "It just felt good as I stepped off the boat with my big duffel bag on my back."
Ellie
Two say parade will help vets of Vietnam War
BY CHARLES F. BOSTWICK, Staff Writer
LA Daily News
LANCASTER - Vietnam veterans Gary Chapman and Ray Santana want to welcome home all the soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen who came home from Vietnam more than 30 years ago to hostility or indifference.
After attending a national Welcome Home parade last Veterans Day in Las Vegas, Chapman and Santana are organizing Antelope Valley's own Operation Welcome Home parade on Nov. 11 along Lancaster Boulevard.
"If I can help one Vietnam veteran to find his peace, then all of our work will be worth it," said Chapman, who was a 19-year-old Army helicopter door-gunner in Vietnam and now works for Pratt & Whitney in Canoga Park.
Chapman and Santana said marching in the Nov. 11, 2005, Las Vegas parade was an emotional event, with thousands of people lining the parade route to cheer and shake the hands of the veterans walking past.
"I completed my tour of duty June 11, 1969, but I didn't begin my long march home until Nov. 11, 2005," said Santana, who was a Marine machine-gunner. "I was so emotionally moved by the event I shook as many hands as I could ... My eyes may have been filled with tears, but I couldn't stop smiling all the way down the parade route."
The Antelope Valley Operation Welcome Home parade is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Nov. 11, running along Lancaster Boulevard from 10th Street West to Sierra Highway. Spectators will be handed small American flags to wave.
Vietnam veterans will lead the parade, followed by veterans from other wars and eras.
High school bands, floats and color guards are expected to participate, as well as military personnel, past and present. Organizers are arranging a flyover by Air Force planes.
A ceremony and entertainment including a competition for high school band drum lines will follow at Boeing Plaza, beneath a pedestal-mounted Vietnam-era F-4 fighter jet.
"We want to invite our community to come on board and honor our veterans and military personnel who protect our freedom," Chapman said.
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3000 in Quartz Hill is a co-sponsor, with any funds left after operational expenses to go to the state veterans home scheduled to start construction next year in Lancaster.
Post 3000 commander Cliff Barth said more donations are still needed from local businesses and individuals to cover expenses.
Lancaster Mayor Henry Hearns, who served in the U.S. Army in Korea, said he will never forget his homecoming, arriving by ship in May 1955 in Oakland.
"From out before we entered the harbor, we could hear the music playing. The band was playing `California, here I come, right back where I started from.' It felt good," said Hearns, his voice breaking. "It just felt good as I stepped off the boat with my big duffel bag on my back."
Ellie