Oceanside’s Big Parade to Hail Marines’ Return

What’s billed as the biggest West Coast victory celebration since World War II will feature 1,000 Marines and an expected 100,000 spectators, but not George Bush, Dan Quayle or Ronald Reagan.

Nor, apparently, will any anti-war protesters.

Organizers of the first major Desert Storm homecoming parade in California had invited President Bush, Vice President Quayle and former President Reagan, but they couldn’t come and are sending taped messages instead.

“I guess they can’t be everywhere,” Paula Barksdale, the executive director of Saturday’s event in Oceanside, said Tuesday.

Despite some disappointment, organizers look at the absence of top political celebrities as a small blessing that averts the need for elaborate security. And besides, Barksdale insisted, “our stars are the Marines.”

The $150,000 parade will march up Hill Street from Wisconsin to Mission avenues from 10 a.m. to about noon, creating the most excitement in downtown Oceanside since World War II ended nearly half a century ago.

“In a way, it’s like a classic Forth of July parade,” said city spokesman Larry Bauman.

While Oceanside plans what it’s promoting as a “thoroughly pure red, white and blue” patriotic extravaganza, organizers of a May 19 victory salute in Los Angeles are already encountering controversy.

Anti-war groups, upset that the celebration will show off such military hardware as warplanes, tanks and missile launchers, are planning to march in protest of a tone they feel glorifies war.

Yet in San Diego County, despite many small anti-Persian Gulf War rallies, there are no plans to make a political statement at Oceanside’s celebration.

“The patriotic movement is so strong now, anything ‘anti’ would be washed aside and be treated with disrespect,” said Jill Thurlow of North Coast Community For Peace in the Middle East. The group had held weekly peace vigils in North County.

Oceanside’s parade will show plenty of military equipment, including tanks, artillery and other armored vehicles, but organizers say the intent is to honor the troops--not just those involved with Desert Storm, but Vietnam veterans too.

“We want to extend the celebration and good feeling to Vietnam veterans who never had a homecoming,” Bauman said.

So the parade, entitled Proud to be an American Day, will be an unusual homecoming for two generations of servicemen.

It didn’t start out as that.

At first, Barksdale was planning a rally to support the Gulf troops, but then the war ended unexpectedly fast. “Now we’ve won the war (and) the POWs were released, so it has turned into a victory rally,” she said.

Barksdale said the event will be the West Coast’s inaugural victory celebration and “the biggest parade anywhere since World War II.”

The parade will be led by Lt. Gen. Walter Boomer, who commanded Marine forces in the Persian Gulf War, and the grand marshals will be Camp Pendleton’s former prisoners of war Lt. Col. Clifford Acree and Chief Warrant Officer Guy Hunter.

Their reconnaissance aircraft was shot down by an Iraqi missile, and the two Marines were POWs for more than 40 days, until the war’s end.

Marching along the parade route among the patriotic floats, color guards, bands and clowns will be 1,000 Camp Pendleton Marines, a mix of those who fought in the war and those who served stateside.

Despite the military theme, some of the 100 parade units will be commercial entries, including those from radio stations, fast-food chains, a supermarket and a real estate firm.

After the parade will come the taped messages from Bush, Quayle and Reagan and recognition for local political leaders, including three congressmen, state legislators from San Diego County and Sen. John Seymour of California. Six retired and active duty Marine generals will be present.

Entertainment will run from about noon to 6 p.m. and will include comedian Yakov Smirnoff, Grammy winner David Foster, the Texas blues band “Fabulous Thunderbirds,” blues guitarist Edgar Winter and more.

Actor Ricardo Montalban, the parade’s honorary guest grand marshal, and actor David Carradine will deliver messages to the audience.

“We’ve been in contact with a number of celebrities, there’s still a chance of some surprise guests,” Bauman said.

Event organizers expect at least 100,000 spectators, and the event has been publicized in Orange County and Los Angeles.

Motorists are advised not to attempt parking in downtown Oceanside after 8 a.m. Saturday. The downtown will be closed to traffic between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. For parking, parade-goers are urged to park at Camp Pendleton and take a special shuttle running every five minutes between the base and the downtown.

To reach Camp Pendleton parking lots, take the Interstate 5 exit to the base’s main gate. After 8 a.m., the California Highway Patrol will close I-5 exits at Mission Avenue and Hill Street.

Handicapped parking for 125 vehicles will be provided at the public parking lot at Cleveland Street between 3rd and 4th streets. Handicapped motorists must show placards to get through the barricades.

Anybody needing to use the Oceanside Transit Center will be allowed downtown but is advised to take Wisconsin to Cleveland Street and turn north to Michigan to reach the center.

All North County Transit District bus stops will be relocated for the day to 4th Street between Freeman and Ditmar streets, and shuttle buses to the Camp Pendleton parking area will stop there.

Meanwhile, San Diego has scheduled a parade down Broadway for May 18, which is Armed Forces Day.