Military Town Readies Red Carpet for Its Troops

It’s being called the premier military event on the West Coast and the granddaddy of all victory parades in San Diego since the 1940s. It will honor the military men and women who served in Operation Desert Storm, with an Americana flavor not felt in San Diego since World War II.

It’s no accident that “San Diego Salutes the Troops” is being held Saturday, Armed Forces Day, or that it honors veterans of all wars, from World War I on.

“The last military parade in San Diego of this magnitude was on March 2, 1946,” said George Wheeler, a parade organizer. “Fundamentally, the concept of this parade follows those that were so successful in other periods. Military parades in San Diego were always head and shoulders over other types of parades. . . . The chemistry is not between the politician and the city, it’s between the foot soldier or sailor and the family who hangs the flag in the window and waits for the troops to come home.”

Paul Downey, spokesman for Mayor Maureen O’Connor, who is chairwoman of the parade, echoed Wheeler’s sentiments.

“It is the premier event on the West Coast to honor the troops,” Downey said. “A lot of other parades have celebrities and politicians; we have the troops.”

The parade, organized by the city of San Diego and funded through several sponsors--including Pepsi Cola, Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical and General Dynamics--will also include the veterans of earlier wars, who say they are proud to march alongside Operation Desert Storm troops.

Just ask Pearl Harbor survivor Ralph Lindenmeyer.

“We feel very, very good about all of this, but we still want to honor the returning troops,” said Lindenmeyer, president of the San Diego chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Assn. “Our thing happened 50 years ago. This is for them. . . . We feel very honored to be included.”

The parade, which begins at 11 a.m., will include about 10,000 military personnel and is expected to draw 200,000 spectators. The 1 1/2-mile route begins at 6th Avenue and A Street and heads south to Broadway, where it turns west toward Kettner Boulevard. The parade ends at G Street and Kettner.

All military veterans, whether they served during war or peace, will feel a part of the parade, said Ed Badrak, a Vietnam veteran and chairman of the United Veterans Council in San Diego.

Unlike military parades of the past, this one won’t exclude women who have served their country, he said.

“I think we all feel a part of it,” Badrak said. “It is important that women are finally getting their just due. We’re very excited that the community, once in 25 years, is coming to the point of two military parades in one year,” referring to the Veterans Day Parade scheduled for Nov. 11.

Badrak said he is especially glad to see veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars honored along with the Persian Gulf troops.

“It’s time for Vietnam veterans to take their place among other veterans,” Badrak said. “Thank God somebody’s following us. . . . There were no winners coming out of Vietnam or Korea--a lot of heroes came home, but nobody waved a flag for them.”

Vietnam veteran Jerry Stadtmiller, president of the San Diego chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America, said he is grateful that veterans of less glorious wars will be honored.

“What I’m hoping for in this parade this Saturday is that there will be a resonance, a kind of catharsis or healing, between parade (spectators) and Vietnam veterans,” said Stadtmiller, who was blinded in Vietnam. “But I hope that young children won’t walk away thinking war is a romantic experience, because combat is a costly experience.”

One group thinks the parade is a glorification of war. “Our feeling is that this parade is a very inappropriate way to respond to what has happened in the Persian Gulf,” said Don Bashford of the Coalition for Peace in the Middle East. “It was a human tragedy that our own government was largely responsible for. There is nothing to be proud of here and nothing to celebrate. It would be more appropriate to mourn.”

“Once we start to celebrate military victories, especially one that has shown itself to be a very hollow victory, it becomes a very dangerous path that we tread,” said Patricia Gardiner, a founding member of the coalition. “The coalition is still continuing its work because there is still no peace in the Middle East.”

Nevertheless, expect lots of flag waving at the event. The party will start with a drum and bugle corps, banners, color guards and high-ranking military officials. Spectators will also get a feel for days gone by, as one unit devoted to military history re-enacts major conflicts from the Revolutionary War to World War I.

Also expect plenty of military hardware to roll down the parade route, including vehicles just returned from the Persian Gulf. Up to a dozen tanks, a Tomahawk cruise missile and a 75-foot Navy submarine will be featured. Other vehicles will include a Vietnam-era river patrol boat and an Apache helicopter.

The parade’s “Homefront Division” will honor local citizens for their support of the armed forces, particularly those with families still in the Gulf.

“For the troops, this is the ultimate morale booster,” said Phil Battaglia, logistics chairman for the event. “It tells them people care about them and what they’re doing.”