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Thousands of people lining downtown streets cheered wildly as veterans, some wiping away tears, marched through St. Louis on Saturday during the nation’s first big welcome-home parade for Iraq War veterans.
Several hundred veterans, many dressed in camouflage, walked alongside military vehicles, marching bands and even the Budweiser Clydesdales. People in the crowd held signs reading “Welcome Home” and “God Bless Our Troops,” and fire trucks with aerial ladders hoisted three huge American flags along the route.
“It’s not necessarily overdue. It’s just the right thing,” said Army Maj. Rich Radford, who became a symbol of the event thanks to a photo of his young daughter taking his hand while welcoming him home from his second tour in Iraq in 2010.
