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Community Corner

More VIDEOS: Saturday Was Perfect For the Veteran's Appreciation Parade

The streets were filled with marchers, the sidewalks packed with spectators, as the Veteran's Appreciation Parade wound its way through town on Saturday.

A perfect June day greeted marchers and the viewing public on the streets of Swampscott for the Veteran’s Appreciation Parade on Saturday.

The parade wound down Humphrey Street, under a huge American flag that hung from two ladder trucks near Redington Street, past a viewing stand filled with Gold Star family members, up Burrill, over to Essex and ending up at Swampscott High School.

“It was wonderful, just wonderful to see,” Swampscott resident and Navy veteran Dick Langford said after the parade went past him. “Beautiful day, beautiful parade, very proud that they were able to stage it here in town.”

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Langford and his wife watched the marchers go by next to the basketball court on Humphrey Street, directly across from the parade’s starting point.

“They’ve done such a great job putting this parade on, I’m thrilled it was here in Swampscott,” veteran Howie Vatcher said. Vatcher, who served in the Army from 1946-1947, and in the reserves in 1950, watched the parade with family and friends from the porch at 515 Humphrey Street.

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Hundreds of marchers, on foot, on horseback, in military jeeps, armored personnel carriers and a tank or two passed in front of the people who lined the sidewalks along the parade route waving and taking pictures of the marchers.

“Jim Schultz and his team did an outstanding job putting this together, it’s great, really a great day and a great day for a parade,” Lou Gallo said.  Gallo is a member of the Swampscott Historical Society and an associate member of the Swampscott Historical Commission, and he leads a meeting of local history buffs on the first Friday of every month at the Swampscott Public Library.

Several children watched the parade near Cedar Hill Terrace with their mouths wide open when the horses came by, and their mouths were opened even wider when the tank came down Humphrey Street, followed a few minutes later by a submarine.

“Wonderful to have this parade in town, on its own special day,” Gallo said. “I’m glad that they’ve taken a special effort to honor the Gold Star families, my heart goes out to them and I thank them for their loved one’s service to our country, they deserve all the attention and respect we can give them.”

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