Honoring those who served
A member of the American Legion Post 28 honor guard plays taps at the Vietnam War Memorial in front of the Grant County Courthouse in Ephrata at the conclusion of Friday’s annual Veterans Day Parade.
Charles H. Featherstone
Members of the American Legion Post 28 honor guard march up to the Grant County Courthouse’s Vietnam War Memorial at the end of the annual Veterans Day Parade in Ephrata on Friday.
Cadets with the Civil Air Patrol’s Columbia Basin Composite Squadron carry the colors as the annual Veterans Day Parade steps off in front of the Grant County Courthouse in Ephrata in Friday.
Veterans walking in the annual Veterans Day parade in Ephrata on Friday.
A veteran waves to the crowd as the annual Veterans Day parade makes its way down Basin Street in Ephrata on Friday.
Ken Nash, an Ephrata resident and member of the Washington Civil War Association, rides next to a funeral horse with an empty saddle and backward boots in the stirrups, during the annual Veterans Day Parade in Ephrata on Friday.
Organizer of the Ephrata Veterans Day Parade and Marine Corps veteran Mike Montaney stands in front of the Grant County Courthouse on Friday as the annual parade makes its way to the courthouse Vietnam War Memorial
EPHRATA — It may have been a short parade that wound through the streets of downtown Ephrata, but for those who both marched and watched in the town’s Veterans Day parade, it was a meaningful one.
“They love seeing all the people,” said Tess Guillemette as she waited with her two granddaughters on the side of C Street Northwest near the Grant County Courthouse. “It’s important to honor veterans because Grandpa is a veteran. And I think it’s something that every child should learn to know.”
The parade brought together members of American Legion Post 28 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 24 along with cadets from the Civil Air Patrol’s Columbia Basin Composite Squadron and members of the Royal Rangers USA youth group to march down several blocks of C and Basin streets.
The parade started and ended on Friday morning at the Grant County Courthouse, where they honored those who served and those who died, with a 21-gun salute from the American Legion honor guard and the playing of taps at the Vietnam War Memorial in front of the Grant County Courthouse.
It was a cold morning and a short parade but according to parade organizer Mike Montaney, a 21-year-veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps who retired in 1985, that has its advantages.
“Unlike some parades where you stand around for two hours, it’s too cold to do that,” he said.
“This is our 25th annual Veterans Day parade,” Montaney continued. “We like to have the veterans recognized on Veterans Day because of what they’ve done. They’ve protected this country, and they need to be recognized.”
Montaney, who served two tours in Vietnam, reviewed his clipboard listing the parade participants.
“And as long as I’m around, I want to make sure that happens,” he added.
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.
