News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: Pre-Parade Ceremony Honors Vets

Date: November 25, 2001

"Pre-Parade Ceremony Honors Vets
Before the start of San Antonio's Veterans Day Parade Saturday, there was a special service remembering veterans at a solemn site, the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial.

Many wartime brethren traveled by bike to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice. The bikers rolled right through the heart of downtown, on their way to pay their tribute.

"We just started doing this in honor of the veterans," Vietnam Vet Biker Club member Joey Welsh said.

"It's just everybody showing camaraderie," Vietnam veteran Tom Bagley said. "Everybody is just here for the same cause, to remember those who didn't make it home."

This year's parade was the seventh annual Veterans' Day run that ended at the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial. This year it wrapped up with a gathering of men and women for a special wartime ceremony.

Through speech and song, the crowd celebrated their brothers and sisters who paid the ultimate price for our country, as well as those still fighting in Afghanistan (news - web sites).

"We all just need to stick together and remember everybody over there and keep them all in our prayers," veteran supporter Kim Little said.

Saturday's ceremony did not just honor living veterans, or those who died during war, it also remembered those who never came home.

"As far as we're concerned, until they bring back the bodies the POWs and MIAs (they) are still out there," Welsh said.

Organizers said that the missing will not be forgotten, and vets will keep fighting for their return as long as the American flag proudly waves."