St. Louis Parade Honors Iraq Veterans

          Surprising as it may be, since the end of the Iraq war there has been little public celebration. The city of Saint Louis changed that with a parade held Jan. 27 in downtown to honor the veterans of the war, giving them an official welcome home.
          “As much as I don’t support the war and fighting to solve conflict, recognizing the people who sacrifice their time and sometimes even their lives to go and fight in them [is an honorable thing to do]. It’s important to say thank you for stepping up to the plate when your country needs it,” said sophomore Erin Gaubatz.
          The idea for this sprung from two friends, Craig Schneider and Tom Appelbaum, a Parkway School Board member. Neither served in the forces, but both felt a great appreciation for those who had. They began the creation of their vision by creating a Facebook group, trying to promote the cause and draw attention.
          “I went to the parade because I heard on the news that one of the gentlemen who was organizing it was a Parkway North graduate and a current Parkway North Board Member, and I thought, ‘Oh, that’s neat,’” said Principal Jenny Marquart.
          This event kicked off the night before at Soldier Memorial at 9:11 p.m. when volunteers read off the 6,502 names of American men and women who died fighting in the Iraq war. The next day the parade began at Kiener Plaza, and travelled West on Market Street to Union Station, featuring over 80 floats, two marching bands, and the Budweiser Clydesdales. Following this was entertainment, music, food, and a ‘resource village’ where veterans could connect with service providers such as the Red Cross or Department of Veterans Affairs. 
           “It seems so honorable that St. Louis would be a group of people who would make the effort. That says, ‘We’re going to do something about this, we’re going to make sure that they know that we honor them,’” said Marquart. 
          Many helped in funding this cause. The two friends turned to St. Louis corporations when looking for help. $10,000 from Anheuser-Busch and $7,500 from Mayflower was given to parade organizers. Mayor Francis Slay even chipped in by covering permitting charges, while Mayflower held a collection for donations to homeless veterans.
          “It was a very humbling event, very emotional. It struck me that the people in the crowd were yelling thank you to all the service men and women and that their familiar were saying thank you back to the crowd and I just thought what an amazing demonstration of community, of common commitment, things that we all care about,” said Marquart.

Written by Chaney Cooper