Albany Veterans Day Parade Mixes Patriotic Displays With Reality (VIDEO)

See the sites and sounds of the Albany Veterans Day Parade through the lens of Tim King's television camera. Also catch our slide show presentation of photos by Bonnie King.

Photos by Bonnie King Salem-News.com

(ALBANY, Ore.) - The Albany, Oregon Veterans Day Parade drew more than 40,000 spectators and participants to this Willamette Valley city.

The November 11th event marks the day World War One ended in 1918. Salem-News.com caught up with the last part of the parade and the video is published below.

In this record of the parade you will see everything from a float decked out with bamboo to signify Vietnam, to old cars, a Miatta club, marching bands and anti-war groups like Vietnam Veterans For Peace.

The event brought together all of these groups that represent and serve veterans, without political interference. The organizers allowed all to pay homage in their own way to the men and women who serve this nation in uniform.

For those who are not familiar, Albany is located in the Willamette Valley of Oregon and it is a rich, agricultural area. Revitalization to the riverfront along with the renovation of many historic buildings leaves this charming community with a small town feel.

Buildings in this part of Oregon frequently date back into the 1800's and some as far back as the 1860's and 1870's and some are even older.

It seems fitting that this historic town with street scenes that are like a snapshot back in time, would host this large-scale event honoring veterans. The Veterans Day Parade is only one of the things Albany is known for, but along with the World Championship Timber Carnival, it is certainly one of the largest.

Parade attendees at the event told me that their biggest concern is showing support for the people who serve. They see the Albany parade as a fantastic way to share the story of military service with children.

The Marine Corps League created a float with a casket and a soldier's boots and helmet. It signified the thousands of Americans who have died fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan in recent years. This float displayed the poignancy of this event, and did not overlook the reality of what military service is in some cases, all about.

I did miss part of this year's parade, check out this Harley blog to learn more about what bikers are doing to help honor our vets:

Northwest Harley Blog

Watch the video recording below:
Video

Here is a slideshow of Albany Veterans Day Parade photos by Bonnie King:

Video

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Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor.
Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 in Afghanistan with Oregon troops. Tim recently returned from Iraq where he covered the war there while embedded with an Oregon Guard aviation unit. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website, affiliated with Google News and several other major search engines and news aggregators.
You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com