{"id":24872,"date":"2024-11-12T09:55:57","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T16:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-veteran-strong-county-celebrates-with-a-parade-in-cortez\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T05:03:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:03:44","slug":"a-veteran-strong-county-celebrates-with-a-parade-in-cortez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-veteran-strong-county-celebrates-with-a-parade-in-cortez\/","title":{"rendered":"A \u2018veteran-strong county\u2019 celebrates with a parade in Cortez"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Vintage
Vintage cars took part in the Veterans Day celebration Monday on Montezuma Avenue. (Aaron Lewis\/Special to the Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Five planes flew in formation overhead, kicking off the Veterans Day celebration parade in Cortez that shut down Montezuma Avenue at 1 p.m. Monday<\/p>\n

\u201cVeterans Day is a celebration, not a mourning,\u201d said John Davis III, a Vietnam veteran and quartermaster at the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Cortez.<\/p>\n

\"Glen
Glen Baer, an 11th Armored Cavalry veteran who was stationed in Germany, on Monday also celebrated the election of President Donald Trump. (Aaron Lewis\/Special to the Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cIt draws attention to veterans, their sacrifice and all they\u2019ve done,\u201d said Davis. \u201cI didn\u2019t get on a plane to Vietnam on my own, it was someone else\u2019s orders.\u201d<\/p>\n

People lined the street, watching the procession of people and floats adorned in red, white and blue as they passed by.<\/p>\n

The Montezuma-Cortez high and middle school marching bands played, while their peers participated in color guard or waved small American flags.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe passed out little flags to kids, and their faces lit right up,\u201d said Shelia Pendleton, who walked with the Girl Scouts of Cortez in the parade.<\/p>\n

\"Members
Members of the Montezuma County VFW Auxiliary Post 5231 march on Montezuma Avenue during the Veterans Day Parade. (Aaron Lewis\/Special to the Journal).<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Pendleton said she was pleased by the turnout, and how it\u2019s a testament to the love and support of the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a veteran-strong county,\u201d said Davis. \u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The parade, sponsored by the American Legion, was made possible by veterans coming together and a greatly supportive community, said Mike Brunk, a Vietnam veteran, who has helped put on the parade for seven years now.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a privilege to do this. It\u2019s a real joy to meet so many people; it\u2019s great,\u201d Brunk said.<\/p>\n

\"A
A paradegoer shows support for veterans at Monday\u2019s parade in Cortez. (Aaron Lewis\/Special to the Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Kinleigh Bane, after walking in her third parade and fourth year as a Girl Scout, said she enjoyed being part of the celebration, especially because her friends are Girl Scouts too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel double celebrated today. (After the election) we now have good leadership who will build up the military,\u201d said Glen Baer, an 11th Armored Cavalry veteran who was stationed in Germany at the border with Czechoslovakia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to see communism \u2026 a definite comparison of democracy versus socialism,\u201d said Baer. \u201cI\u2019m proud to be American.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Battle
Battle Rock Charter School participates in Cortez\u2019s Veterans Day Parade on Monday. (Aaron Lewis\/Special to the Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Another veteran of the Vietnam War who carried the Marine Corps flag in the parade told The Journal<\/em> how, when he returned from war, \u201cthere was nothing to come home to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYoung people spit on us, called us names,\u201d he remembered.<\/p>\n

But today, he felt celebrated.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, yes, but not a lot,\u201d he said. \u201cI think people forget.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that yesterday, he went into a store wearing the same hat he had on at the time of the interview \u2013 one that read \u201cVietnam Veteran.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI walked around with that hat on and nobody said anything, just the day before Veterans Day,\u201d he said. \u201cVeterans have sacrificed to keep everyone free, so why not say thanks?\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

down Montezuma Avenue at 1 p.m. on Veterans Day<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-24872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24872"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78710,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24872\/revisions\/78710"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24872"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=24872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}