Serious and less so, under sunny skies and temperatures in the low 70s, the entries in for the annual Veterans Day parade Saturday afternoon in downtown Fairfield were as eclectic as they were inspiring.
There was the Just Vettes Corvette Club, the sports cars low-slung, shining in the sun, the engines purring, passed by.
Following was the Hello Garage crew on a float, then the Oakbrook Academy of the Arts students singing an earnest, high-pitched version of “America The Beautiful” in a way only children can.
Then there were The ORFS, an acronym for Old Retired Folks, a motely crew of mostly veterans long in the tooth and gray-haired, some wearing olive drab fatigue shirts, marching with no particular rhythm and fading pep in their steps. Their motto according to a sign at the head of the pack was “Work? No. I’m an ORF.”
The event, organized by the city’s Parks and Recreation Department and sponsored by VW Fairfield and BMW Fairfield, entertained an appreciative crowed of about 1,500, infants to seniors, sitting or standing on a stretch of Texas Street.
Other entries — many of them repeats from previous years — ranged from a Fairfield Police Department motorcycle unit, lights flashing, and Assemblywoman Lori Wilson, D-Suisun City, smiling and waving from a vehicle, to Fairfield Fire Department crews and uniformed students in the Fairfield High School JROTC, to Vacaville Ice Sports and KUIC-FM 95.3 in Vacaville, to the Salvation Army Kroc Center and a contingent from the California Army National Guard.
One of the parade highlights was the car carrying Grand Marshal Frederick B. Young Jr., a retired Air Force senior master sergeant who later earned an MBA from National University and became active in a number of organizations in Fairfield and Vallejo. He waved and smiled broadly as he passed by. Some parade xgoers saluted him and he returned the salutes.
It was a day for Solano cities and towns across the nation to honor military veterans — living and dead — with parades and other observances, including a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, where President Joe Biden laid a commemorative wreath.
Just before the Fairfield parade began, Suzanne Bruce, the city’s poet laureate, read from her poem “As We Stand Together.” Among its free-form verses, without capitalization and punctuation, were a reference to war losses and hope “that sacrifices were not in vain/that the past is wisdom and the future remains safe,” “freedom isn’t always free/until all can breathe a better future,” and “democracy will only last when it is not taken for granted.”
On this Veterans Day, it seemed some of her words echoed today’s headlines not only about the current socio-political fabric of America but also conflict in the Holy Land and the greater Middle East, where some U.S. troops are stationed and recently have come under fire from Islamic militants.
Watching the parade, Zanika Ashley, holding a French bulldog named Phoebe, said, “I just wanted to support my city. My father was in the military. I felt compelled to come down here. He lived in the Veterans Home of California (in Yountville). I just wanted to honor all the veterans and thank them for their service.”
Standing near the parade judging platform, Ryan Wood of Fairfield, an Air Force veteran discharged with a medical disability, attended so he could see his son, Evan, 17, march as part of the Vanden High’s JROTC program.
There were some 16.2 million military veterans in the United States in 2022, representing 6.2% of the total civilian population age 18 and over, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Several dozen of them, some in snappy uniforms and hats, attended a somber Veterans Day commemoration ceremony at 10 a.m. in the Downtown Theatre, an event sponsored by the cities of Fairfield and Suisun City and American Legion Reams Post 182 of Suisun City.
Before the formal part of the ceremony got underway, the 20-member Alive Music Orchestra, directed by Ken Stout who occasionally doubled as a saxophonist, entertained the audience with several tunes taken from The Great American Songbook, creating a joyful — and sometimes patriotic — atmosphere on a day filled with somber moments of reflection.
Band vocalist Lee Reyes thanked veterans, saying, “Allow us to give a little bit for all you’ve done for us,” then launched into the jazz standard “All of Me,” a 1931 tune by Gerald Marks and Seymour Simons.
Following that song, she looked out into the 400-seat jewel-box theater and asked, “Anyone still waiting for the right one?” No surprise, she began singing “When I Fall in Love,” a 1952 song by Victor Young and Edward Heyman.
Band vocalist Frank Salamone of Dixon sang “The Power of Love,” a 1985 song by Huey Lewis and the News for the film “Back to the Future,” more jazz-inflected than the anthemic rock tune it is, given the AMO’s instrumentation: trumpets, trombones, saxophones, piano, congas, drums and six-string electric guitar.
Salamone’s daughter, Leah Walker of Vacaville, sang “For Once in My Life,” Lee sang “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” and Salamone and Walker sang a version of Chicago’s “Saturday in the Park” and Louis Prima’s “Jump, Jive and Wail,” a lively 1956 recording in 4/4 time with a drum afterbeat, definitely a precursor of sorts to rock ‘n’ roll.
Fairfield Mayor Catherine Moy recited the city’s official Veterans Day proclamation, and Christina Hickey, commander of Reams Post 182 and the commemoration’s mistress of ceremonies, commended veterans and active-duty servicemen and women “preserving democracy for the world.”
Salamone then sang Katherine Lee Bates’s “America The Beautiful,” with its imagery of “spacious skies,” “amber waves of grain,” and “purple mountain majesties” before Hickey introduced keynote speaer Carrie Pepper, author of “Missing On Hill 700.”
Pepper noted the day is “a solemn tribute of a grateful nation” for the sacrifices of its servicemen and woman,” including that of her brother, a member of the 3rd Marine Division who went missing during the Vietnam War.
She quoted Pierre Claeyssens, a Belgian immigrant and philanthropist who helped design Liberty Ships during World War II as an expression of gratitude to U.S. soldiers who help free his country: “To be lost is not the worst that can happen. To die is not the worst. To be forgotten is the worst.”
Afterward, the AMO played, in quick succession, versions of military branch songs, from “The Army Goes Rolling Along” and “Wild Blue Yonder” to “Anchors Aweigh” and “The Marines’ Hymn.”
In particularly moving remarks, John H. Aldridge, commander of the American Legion Department of California and a retired Air Force technical sergeant, said, “The American Legion is asking you, each of you, to ‘Be the One.’ ”
“Be the one to stop veteran suicide, be the one to save a life, be the one to bring hope, help, and happiness to a veteran. Be the One,” he said.
Aldridge referred to the American Legion’s “Be the One” initiative, which encourages family members, veterans, service members and others to take action when they believe a veteran is at risk of suicide.
“Nothing is more important that our effort to reduce the number of veterans who die by suicide,” he said, adding that some 6,000 veterans commit suicide every year.
Aldridge encouraged all who come in contact with a veteran who needs help “to be proactive.
“Don’t assume someone else will act,” he said. “Be the One means take the initiative.”
“As part of this initiative, I encourage you to help those suffering from PTSD and similar disorders,” said Aldridge. “Veterans, it helps to share your stories.”
At one point toward the end of the commemoration, the AMO trumpet soloists played “Taps” and closed with Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America.”
Veterans Day originated as “Armistice Day” on Nov. 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the end of World War I. Congress passed a resolution in 1926 making it an annual observance, and it became a national holiday in 1938. Sixteen years later, then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation changing the name to Veterans Day to honor all those who served their country during war or peacetime.
