Parade is a reminder of soldiers fighting now

Thursday, Nov. 11, 2004 | 11:15 a.m.

Got Freedom?

That was the timely question posed by one of the entries in today's downtown Las Vegas Veterans Day Parade.

A group of spouses of soldiers deployed to the Persian Gulf nearly three months ago decided to use a play on the wording of the national campaign that promotes milk. The modified slogan was intended to pay tribute to what will be a generation of future veterans who are participating in efforts to secure freedom for a long-oppressed people.

"We don't want people to forget those who are currently fighting -- and I don't think anyone has forgotten them," said Kimberly Irenze, wife of Marco Irenze, a 30-year-old Nevada Army National Guard sergeant, who was deployed with his brother, Massimo, a 25-year-old sergeant.

"People and businesses have been very good to us and have assisted and supported us, including offering to buy Christmas presents for our children and to send our husbands cards. It's all part of an effort to let the solders know how much we need them and miss them."

Irenze is a volunteer with the 1864th Family Support, a group of spouses of soldiers who meet to provide support for each other and to share information -- "one big group hug," as Irenze puts it.

A group of about 50 of them, including their children, marched this morning beside a decorated Hummer adorned with American flags, two large banners saying "God Bless America" and the "Got Freedom?" message.

They wore matching long-sleeved white shirts that featured the slogan above a photo of the 1864th Transportation Co. Guard unit. Below the photo were the words "Thank a soldier."

About 175 members of the 1864th, including the Irenze brothers, left in August on an 18-month deployment. Their assignment is to haul water, ammunition and supplies via tractor-trailers through the deserts of Iraq and Kuwait in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

To their spouses, the soldiers achieving veterans status cannot come soon enough.

"We are definitely ready for them to come home, though they just recently left," Irenze, a mother of three, said. "But we know they have a job to do and we support them."

Veterans and their families began lining the streets early this morning on this crisp November day to see the parade, featuring 130 entries and about 2,000 marchers.

Many among the thousands of spectators waved or wore American flags or sported bright red poppys in their labels. Children waved glittering red, white, blue and silver streamers amid the fading red and gold foliage of the trees along Fourth Street and the the distinctive sounds of bagpipes and drums could be heard from the Desert Skye Pipes and Drums.

Dale Shepley, a 55-year-old Army Special Forces veteran of Vietnam, found a spot near Fourth and Fremont streets to get a good view of his 15-year-old son, Aaron Baker, marching with the Valley High School ROTC program.

Shepley, who earned three Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star with a V for valor for rescuing 20 Vietnamese kids from a burning bus, said he regularly attends Las Vegas Veterans Day parades but that this one had special meaning. In addition to watching one son march in the parade, another recently returned home from duty in Afghanistan.

"Yes, they spit on us when we came home from Vietnam, but I think America has grown up to realize that the person in the military is just doing his job -- a job that protects the freedoms we enjoy," Shepley said, a Las Vegas resident of 12 years.

"With the building of the Vietnam, Korean and World War II monuments we see that these men and women were our fathers, mothers, son and daughters, and we have a greater appreciation for them."

Shepley, whose father served in the Air Force for 31 years and whose three other sons are serving in three different branches of the military, said he was apprehensive about our involvement in Iraq, "but we have to finish the job."

"If we pull out now, we will do more damage than good. We have a real chance now to make a difference in that region, especially now that (Palestinian Yasser) Arafat is dead."

As he watched children pass by, Shepley mused about the world's "warring society."

"It seems every 20 years we need to have a war. But if we do not do it to protect ourselves, someone else will do it to attack us."

Anton Kurtz, a Vietnam War Air Force veteran who has a son in the Air Force who recently returned from Saudi Arabia, said he too questions "what are we doing there?" And he believes the answer is "oil."

But despite his criticism of the war, Kurtz said, "I absolutely support the soldiers over there who are protecting our families."

Leroy Spotted Eagle, spiritual leader of the Southern Paiute Veterans Association and a Vietnam veteran, said Veterans Day to him means "pride, patriotism and having had the opportunity to serve my country."

"We (American Indians) have fought in every war this country has been in. From when the first colonies were established we were there."

Dr. Sandy Greco, a physician who is the reigning Ms. Senior America, said she calls her brother-in-law, a Vietnam veteran, every Veterans Day to say thanks.

"I'm grateful for anyone who lays their life upon the line for everything our country stands for," the 62-year-old former Ms. Senior New Jersey said. "We owe them a huge debt of gratitude."

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, serving as honorary grand marshal, said he could "not think of anything more important to do on this day but than to show our appreciation for what our soldiers are doing and our veteran's have done to protect us and protect our Constitution."

Goodman, who attended on Wednesday the funeral of Las Vegas Marine Pfc. John Lukac, the Durango High School graduate who was killed Oct. 30 with seven other marines in Iraq, said that ceremony hammered home why we are honoring veterans today.

"What you saw was immigrant parents (Czechoslovakian) lose a son younger than 20 and you were absolutely touched when they were presented the American flag (from his coffin) and watched the pride on their faces as they held the flag.

"I don't know if they are American citizens, but they sure are Americans to me."

This year's parade comes on the 50th anniversary of Congress changing Armistice Day to Veterans Day to honor all veterans of wars and not just those of World Wars I and II.

Because Time Magazine this year selected the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces as the "Person of the Year," the local parade committee made the Armed Forces the grand marshal of this year's parade.

Representatives of each service branch, along with their Reserve and National Guard components, marched at the start of the parade behind a special historical honor guard.

That guard featured the authentic or historically recreated uniforms representing all major conflicts in U.S. history dating from the Revolutionary War to the Iraqi War.

The parade on Fourth Street between Gass Avenue and Ogden Avenue drew an estimated turnout of 30,000 to 35,000 spectators. The parade was to be televised by Cox Communications cable TV.