July 4 Glows With Tributes to Military, Gulf Heroes : Holiday: Onlookers cheer the Desert Storm troops, but several veterans suggest that the months of celebrations should come to a close.

Military fanfare shared equal billing with the celebration of America’s 215th birthday Thursday at Independence Day events throughout Ventura County.

While thousands attended parades, picnics and fireworks in eight cities across the county, at least three events--in Oxnard, Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks--were held in honor of troops who served in the Persian Gulf. Speakers at several others, including Ventura Mayor Richard Francis, extended welcome-home wishes to Desert Storm veterans.

At least 11,500 onlookers cheered the Desert Storm troops introduced at the homecoming events, but several veterans suggested that the months of celebrations should now end for what amounted to a short-lived war.

“This is very fitting, honoring our troops on the Fourth of July,” said Ed Mines, a 51-year-old Marine veteran from Thousand Oaks who attended his city’s Desert Storm salute. “But things should be brought to a close. We’ve shown quite an expression of appreciation.”

Even some Desert Storm veterans said it would be appropriate to conclude the victory and homecoming tributes with the Independence Day festivities.

“It’s great to have the support, but I’m a little embarrassed, to be honest,” said Army Reserve Capt. Ray Wylie, 34, who marched to applause from his hometown crowd at the Simi Valley parade Thursday after earlier appearances at homecoming events in Hollywood and Torrance. “Today would be the best time to put things to rest, though there are still 50,000 American men and women in the Gulf.”

However, the sentiment wasn’t unanimous. “I think we should keep cheering because it’s not over,” said John Sanchez, 39, of Simi Valley, a Marine sergeant who served in Vietnam in 1969 and 1970. “The cinders aren’t out there yet.”

Law enforcement authorities reported no major problems in the county Thursday.

The California Highway Patrol said highways were unusually trouble-free for a holiday, and Ventura County fire officials reported the fewest number of July 4th fires in years.

Independence Day events kicked off with a 5 a.m. fireworks display off the Ventura Pier that drew an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 people to the San Buenaventura State Beach. The pyrotechnics proved to be a disappointment to some, as dense morning fog muted the usually brilliant color display.

At times, the fireworks climbed deep into the thick marine layer of fog, offering viewers only a momentary tint of color in the milky sky.

“I’m sitting here at 5 o’clock in the morning watching colored fog,” complained Becky Rao of Camarillo, who set up her blanket on the beach with a group of friends and family members. Although she said that last year’s display in clear weather was far superior, the group enjoyed the 40-minute show, which included enough low bursts to provide many sparkling cascades of light.

Fog or not, the move of the display from night to morning two years ago was “the best thing we ever did,” said Capt. Glenn True, chief investigator for the Ventura City Fire Department.

“It cut way down on the rowdiness,” he said. “It used to be a war zone down there,” True said, referring to a 1986 melee in which police trying to break up a beach party were attacked by the crowd.

In Simi Valley, about 2,000 people lined Alamo Street for a 10 a.m. parade that had a military theme.

Parade participants included a contingent of six Desert Storm returnees from Simi Valley, a Cub Scout troop, children on bicycles festooned with red, white and blue crepe paper and a chorus of children riding in a POW-MIA support group pickup shouting, “U-S-A!” to the accompaniment of repeated truck horn blasts.

About 400 people attended an 11:30 a.m. dedication of a veterans memorial in Rancho Tapo Community Park in Simi Valley. A sign of the mixed purposes of the Desert Storm celebrations came during introduction of veterans of wars dating back to World War I, when the audience cheered loudest not for Persian Gulf soldiers but for the Vietnam War vets.

“They are being welcomed back into the fold after being neglected all these years,” said Rob Nunez, commander of Simi Valley Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10049.

In Thousands Oaks, the Desert Storm salute at Cal Lutheran drew an estimated 1,500 people for live music, puppet shows and a barbecue.

Elise Vroblick, 27, of Thousand Oaks lounged on a blanket in the grass, reading a book on Desert Storm commander Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf. Vroblick, who served in the Army from 1984 to 1987, said she was celebrating “the fact that we won a war and the ratio of our dead to theirs was so miraculous.”

“I think they should extend the Fourth of July celebrations to a week this year,” said Vroblick, who is completing studies in environmental health at Cal State Northridge.

Ruth Stewart, 76, was less enthusiastic. Stewart said she could not recall a single Independence Day celebration, dating back to the close of World War II, that had become so interwoven with military hoopla.

“We’re celebrating bringing them home, and we’re celebrating their victory, but where is this victory?” said Stewart, a retired courts administrator visiting from Tustin. “Kuwait is saved, but the tyrant who raided it is still free and in power.”

An Operation Homecoming event held at Oxnard Airport drew more than 12,000 people, according to event organizers. Oxnard police put the crowd estimate at 8,000 to 11,000.

The event featured a drill by 1,000 enlisted military personnel, a flyby with World War II pilots at the controls, and a display of a seized Iraqi tank and antiaircraft guns.

Most people in the crowd were veterans, active military personnel and their families. Among them was Bernie Bubman, a 58-year-old Army veteran from Northridge, who said he came to “pay respects to our troops.”

“There’s a different spirit, a greater patriotism and a keener feeling of pride compared to this holiday in the past,” said Bubman, a retirement home owner who has a second home in Oxnard Shores. “But this shouldn’t become an obsession. There is nothing special and wonderful about going to war, and we shouldn’t dwell on this forever and ever.”

In Camarillo, at a daylong celebration at Freedom Park, coordinator Rob Giles estimated that crowds were comparable to last year’s turnout of 2,000 to 3,000. Attractions included music, dancing and games.

Ojai’s 10 a.m. parade, with 150 entries, drew close to 10,000 onlookers, organizer Larry Jensen said. “It’s one of the biggest parade crowds we’ve ever had,” he said.

While some parade-goers lamented that Ojai’s fireworks were canceled this year after a pyrotechnics firm backed out of its contract, Jeff Hoffman was relieved.

“We don’t like it because the dogs all freak out and we have to chase them all over town,” said Hoffman, a senior officer with the Humane Society of Ventura County.

Vietnam veteran Ed Evans of Fillmore, a member of the parade’s color guard, noted the strong applause for veterans aboard one parade float.

“I think people feel guilty of the way we were treated when we came back,” Evans said. “It’s a way of easing their guilt. I guess it’s better late than never.”

Ventura’s annual Fourth of July Street Fair filled seven blocks along Main Street with a crowd of 50,000 strolling past 500 artisan booths and 40 food booths. Among the hot items were magic wands with ribbon streamers, halos with stars, and funnel cakes.

The weather did not cooperate as well as in years past. “We were expecting sunshine,” said Faye Campbell, the city’s special events coordinator and fair director.

Times staff writer Joanna M. Miller and correspondent Thia Bell contributed to this story.