Veterans Day brings out the shoppers

Jennifer Knight

Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2003 | 1:10 a.m.

Veterans Day inspired many Las Vegas residents to attend the city's parade or hang an American flag outside of their home, but others used the day off to head straight to the mall.

"We're just here today before the mad Christmas shopping starts," said Jennifer Fields of Kingman, Ariz., who was perusing the stores at the Galleria at Sunset.

Tuesday wasn't exactly Christmas rush but one department store employee said the rise in the number of shoppers was notice-able.

"Normally at this time of the week we see a lot of people walking without packages in their hands," said Donna Horner, an em-oyee at Dillard's. "Today, there are a lot of people with packages. They're not just look-ing, they're buying."

Jennifer Fields and her husband, Mark, paid homage to the holiday by watching a Veterans Day program before leaving for their shopping trip, they said.

Horner gave a nod to the holiday by wearing a T-shirt supporting veterans.

And 15-year-old Liberty High School stu-dent Amanda Thomas said she planned to visit her great-grandfather, a World War II veteran.

"We usually go to his house to celebrate Veterans Day," Thomas said. "We'll go there later." But there were also those who seemed to forget about the holiday altogether.

"Today's Veterans Day? I didn't know," said Billy Hewitt, a 19-year-old Las Vegas sident. "History was my worst class. I do know when Pearl Harbor Day was. It was Dec. 7, 1947, right?" Right day, wrong year -- it was in 1941.

Coronado High School students Sara Bartlett, 17, and Monique Manning, 16 said they too didn't know it was Veterans Day.

"I forgot," Manning said.

"Me too," Bartlett said. "We're here just hanging out with our boyfriends." Manning said she did know the purpose of the holiday, however.

"It's something about honoring people that went to war and then we get the day off." For homemaker Minji Kim, the holiday provided no respite from her daily routine.

"It's just another day," Kim said. "I didn't even know it was Veterans Day until this morning. My husband told me."