WATERVLIET ARSENAL, N.Y. -- According to a recent Veterans Affairs fact sheet, our nation's World War II Veterans are dying at a rate of 900 per day. Which means by Veterans Day next year, we will have lost another 328,500 of America's Greatest Generation.
And so, we are running out of time Aca,!aEURc time to not only thank them for their sacrifice and service, but also time to help to educate our youth on the value of service as exemplified by this great generation of Veterans.
Our nation, as well as our community, has suffered through the ebb and flow of providing proper recognition to our brave warriors. From the ticker-tape parades that followed V-E Day to the empty streets that welcomed many of our Vietnam Veterans home, each conflict helps to define who we are and how we want to be remembered.
The Watervliet Arsenal, which has been providing support to our war fighters since 1813, is trying to rise from a somber sleep of community engagement brought on by nine reductions of the workforce that began in the 1990s. When the Arsenal participated in the City of Watervliet's Memorial Day Parade last May, that was the Arsenal's first parade in nearly 20 years.
Having cut its teeth last May, the Arsenal launched itself into the City of Albany's Veterans' Day Parade on Nov. 11, 2009.
With the support of just a handful of volunteers, who did a little bit of everything from loading cannon tubes to driving shuttle vehicles, the Arsenal planned, coordinated, and participated in one of the largest parades in upstate New York. Building and fielding two floats would have gotten the Arsenal into the parade. But, that wasn't good enough for the parade committee. If the Arsenal was going to participate, it wanted to be 'significant.'
The Arsenal enlisted the support, some say twisted arms, from NFFE Local 2109, Arsenal Fire Department, Arsenal Business & Technology Partnership, Installation Management, Operations Directorate, BenAfAt Labs, and the Hudson-Mohawk Military Vehicle Collectors Club to better package the Arsenal's involvement.
As a result, the Arsenal went from a non-player in the City of Albany to leading the parade. In fact, the Arsenal had the largest parade contingent having fielded 16 vehicles, 50 marchers, and another 50 folks on vehicles.
According to Charlene Ryan from the military vehicle club, "What an incredible day. The weather, the cooperation, the patriotism we raised was incredible. That combination of the Watervliet Arsenal, accompanied by our vehicles, brought such smiles, and light to the eyes of those Veterans along the way was so heart filling you could feel the emotion in the air..."
Col. Scott N. Fletcher, who led the Arsenal contingent in a World War II vehicle, said that when he dismounted his vehicle at the reviewing stand, he received countless praises from civic and political leaders in regards to the Arsenal's first participation in the Albany parade.
So, on a cool November morning, the Arsenal did well to appropriately honor local Veterans, as well as to help the tens of thousands who lined the parade route to better understand and appreciate the value of military service.
After all, if we don't do it, who will'
Social Sharing