40,000 pack downtown Springs to thank the military

It wasn’t “Welcome Home” versus “War No More.”

It was just “Welcome Home.”

Thanking the troops ruled at Saturday’s Red White and Brave Welcome Home Parade in downtown Colorado Springs that drew more than 40,000 supporters and only about a dozen protesters.

“It’s like the rivalry of two football teams, except we have more people on our side,” said retired Army Sgt. 1st Class Kent Crow, a spectator in military uniform who cheered on his active-duty comrades.

The parade had tanks, fire trucks, cheerleaders and marching bands along with costumed characters on stilts and unicycles.

Grandpas, moms, kids and even dogs sported flags. Thousands of people waved banners of support for the soldiers and airmen marching down Tejon Street as a squadron of vintage World War II planes thundered overheard.

The event drew a smaller turnout than the last parade of this magnitude in 2004 to welcome home troops. With the Iraq war still going after six years and the 8-year-old Afghanistan war heating up again, organizers wanted to give the community a chance to thank local troops for their sacrifices. Some Fort Carson soldiers have served overseas three times.

“It’s a morale booster,” said Teresa Meza, who brought her two children to watch their dad march in the parade with thousands of his Army and Air Force comrades. Army Sgt. Daniel Meza is home between deployments.

“It is very uplifting,” said Chris McBean, whose husband, Staff Sgt. John McBean, is deployed to Afghanistan. “You know you are not alone.”

Ernie, a white French bulldog, paraded along the sidelines with a flag poked in his dog collar.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Jill Colbert bedecked the dog to watch her husband, Army Staff Sgt. Aaron Colbert, march down Tejon. “This is amazing. I didn’t think they would do something like this. I was surprised, pleasantly surprised,” she said.

B.J. Cameron was among the seniors who came to show support.

“I’m here just to let the troops know how much we appreciate them, to stand here and say thank you for your sacrifice,” said Cameron, the mother of a 27-year-old disabled Army veteran.

A handful of Coloradans For Peace protesters packing signs on a street corner were upstaged by the mass of sign-waving supporters.

But the protesters’ presence ­— and the media attention they garnered — bothered retired Army Sgt. Major David Dantzler, who said he got a lump in his throat and misty-eyed from the cheering crowd when he marched in the 2004 parade.

“It’s not about them,” Dantzler said of the protesters. “It’s a proud event, thanking the soldiers and welcoming them home. If protestors don’t want to welcome them home, they can stay home.”

Army veteran Kent Crow said he was spit on when he returned from fighting in the Vietnam War. Saturday, he found himself sharing sidewalk space with protesters as he enjoyed the parade.
“It’s America, they have the right,” Crow said. “I don’t get upset.”

When a man came up behind him and started yelling “peace now, peace now,” a police officer asked the protester to step back. Crow, focused on the parade, didn’t seem to even notice.

Eric Verlo, holding a large “War No More” banner, didn’t mind the brawny police officer keeping a watchful eye on his group of a dozen Coloradans For Peace protesters who came to “oppose a pro-war parade.”

“We’ve had a lot of hecklers,” Verlo said. “He is protecting us.”