Altoona hosts annual Veterans Day Parade

ALTOONA, Pa (WTAJ) – Community members greeted veterans with thanks and gratitude, filling their hearts with joy at the Altoona Veterans Day Parade on Saturday.

The parade began at 10:30 a.m. in Downtown Altoona on Nov. 11. and traveled along a route that ended at the Robert E. Laws Veterans Mall on 11th Avenue.

The parade featured over 60 floats and marching groups from organizations based out of Altoona and the Blair County area. There was also a handful of veterans among those floats and on the side walk watching.

A veteran from Altoona, Mike Sanders, shared that serving in the army in Panama had a positive impact on him.

“I was 18 years old when I was drafted and you know I woke up very quick but it’s very humbling and makes a good person out of you and we need all the help we can get today,” Sanders said.

“All the participation and the amount of this parade has just thrilled me terrifically made me realize that things aren’t as bad as we think they are and we are still good people,” Joseph Keirn, a Gulf War veteran who served in Desert Storm, said.

There are thousands of veterans in the Altoona area alone and at the parade today, the big thing was saying “thank you for your service”. Many of the veterans were touched by this showing of gratitude.

“I’m very appreciative and I tell them thank you but like I said I am just one person, so I mean. There are a million veterans across the country, and they all have different stories to tell,” Sanders said.

“It means a lot because there was a time when I put the uniform on that they didn’t care in fact we were told not to wear our uniforms,” Keirn said.

There was a ceremony after the parade featuring patriotic music and speakers expressing gratitude to the veterans.