Nothing Quite Says It Like a Big Parade

Just days after President Bush suspended hostilities and even before a formal cease-fire has been declared, groups across Orange County are getting ready to welcome home the estimated 10,000 locally based Marines and reservists who served in the Gulf War.

“Orange County military personnel were a very significant part of the military contingent in the Persian Gulf, and I think the county is willing and prepared to roll out the welcome mat and say, ‘Congratulations on a job well done,’ ” Gaddi H. Vasquez, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said Friday.

A county-sponsored parade to honor local men and women when they return from the Gulf is already in the works, Vasquez said.

Officials at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station have already agreed to provide personnel and equipment for the event, Vasquez said, and the county’s environmental management agency hasalso begun scouting possible parade routes near the base.

But no date has been set yet because the exact timing of the troops’ return is unknown. Military officials have said it may be months before some of the troops return home.

“Obviously, it’s going to be a while before they all return,” Vasquez said. “But when they do, we want them to see and feel and sense the deep and profound appreciation we feel.”

Vasquez said the idea of a parade came to him after several people asked him what the county would do to show its pride and gratitude.

In Costa Mesa, officials with Nelson/Ralston/Robb Communications said they, too, were discussing plans for a similar event.

“We intend to host and coordinate a ‘Welcome Home’ celebration that we think will be a historic event for Orange County,” senior account executive Monica Prado said.

She said she has been in contact with County Supervisor Don R. Roth and U.S. Sen. John Seymour regarding the event. Knott’s Berry Farm and other corporations have already expressed interest in sponsoring it, she added.

But like the county parade, the celebration still has no firm date.

“It could be in mid-March or it could be in May,” she said. “We’re waiting for a better feel on when the troops will be coming home to Orange County. We’d like to have a good majority of them back.”

In Huntington Beach, officials hope to devote part of their 87th annual Fourth of July celebration to honoring the local soldiers who served in the war.

“If I had a wish, it would be to have them march in their uniforms down the parade route with 300,000 cheering them, standing up when they passed,” said Carole Ann Wall, president of the Fourth of July executive board.