Hartford
No one recognizes firefighters and police, who are “pretty close to military,” said Jesse Mohn, a Hartford resident who lined up along Route 5 with his brother, Army veteran William Mohn, to watch. Their work “has got to take a toll on them.”
The men and their families were among scores of people gathered in the parking lot of the Co-op Food Store yesterday morning before the parade started. “It’s good to support them, the Boy Scouts, pretty much everyone in uniform,” Jesse Mohn said.
Saturday, those in uniform included veterans, firefighters, police, rescue squads, Boy Scouts from the Upper Valley and across Vermont, and a local troop representing the Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains. Police and volunteers — many also veterans themselves — did traffic control as the marchers, bands, fire trucks and cars passed.
The annual parade is sponsored by Boy Scouts of America’s Green Mountain Council. This year, it drew about 250 scouts from 25 troops, said Ed McCollin, the council’s CEO. Among them were members of Troop 232 in Hartford.
The group has traveled all over the state to take part in the parade, said John Hawks, who serves on the troop committee.
Honoring veterans is a big part of scouting, Hawks said Friday. “We want to teach the boys to be involved socially and in the community, and appreciate what our vets have done.”
Each year the parade is held in a different community, organized by local volunteers and Boy Scout troops. After other prospective sites fell through, Hartford agreed to host.
The Hartford Veterans Council organizes Veterans Day and Memorial Day events, but it’s never put on something anywhere near this size, Denis Backus, parade coordinator and president of the veterans council, said Friday. But between the police and fire departments, the Boy Scouts and town officials, “we had some good help.”
“Everyone’s pretty excited about it,” said Backus, an Army veteran who served in Vietnam. “Maybe it will give the kids who watch it a little history about Veterans Day, and an understanding of what veterans have done and ‘veterans’ ways of doing things.”
Despite the raw weather and chilly drizzle, hundreds of people lined the streets to watch the procession. Some stood on the sidewalks, cameras in hand. Others leaned in the doorways of downtown businesses.
Howard Bixby, commander of American Legion Post 84, grinned and snapped pictures as the marchers made their way into the parking lot of VFW Post 2571, where the parade ended.
“This is great,” he said.
The best part? “The bands,” of course, said Bixby, who served in the Marines in the late 1960s. “And the Boy Scouts.”
Spectators on Gates Street broke into applause when the 40th Army Band, dressed in sand-colored camouflage, played the rousing National Emblem march.
Staff Sgt. Kristina Andrea, a clarinetist with the group, said the music sets the mood.
“A large part of our audience is retired veterans. It’s a blast to watch their faces light up,” Andrea said, after the parade. And the kids’ faces, too, when they spot “the Army people,” she added.
During a closing ceremony outside the VFW, speakers thanked the veterans in the audience, and several made a connection between their service and the work of the Boy Scouts.
“You’re starting on a life of service, whether you know it or not,” Town Manager Leo Pullar, who recently retired from the Army after 33 years, told the Scouts in the crowd.
Pullar, a retired colonel, joined the Army after high school at age 17. He traces the move to his time in the Cub Scouts.
“That service and that attitude gets instilled in you, and you make a difference each and every day,” no matter how big or small, he said, standing atop a stage decorated with American flags. “I would encourage you to continue to make a difference, whether you choose to serve in the military, or you choose to serve your city, your state, your country, or yourself even, in some other way, your family, that’s OK. Just think about service.”
That made sense to 14-year-old Curtis Butler, a member of Barre, Vt., Boy Scout Troop 795, which marched in the parade.
“The veterans have been supporting our country for so long, protecting our freedom. … We really need to congratulate them,” he said when the speeches were over. And while the Boy Scouts “do smaller things” — in his troop that has included doing cleanups and building a playground, those smaller efforts “have a big impact.”
Having the parade in Hartford was “a great honor,” Hartford Police Chief Phil Kasten said after the ceremony.
Because many of the town’s police, firefighters and residents have served in the military or still serve in the Guard, “it really means a lot to us.”
Aimee Caruso can be reached at acaruso@vnews.com or 603-727-3210.