St. Louis Will Hold Nation’s First Welcome Home Parade for Iraq Vets
Posted by Jim Hoft on Wednesday, January 18, 2012, 11:57 AM
Barack Obama refused to hold a victory parade for the US troops returning from Iraq. He wouldn’t even hold a welcome home parade.
Missouri will.
St. Louis will hold the nation’s first Welcome Home Parade for Iraq War vets.
Ozarks First reported:
The countdown is on. The nation’s first welcome home parade for Iraq war veterans will take place on January 28th in St. Louis, Missouri.
Some good news for parade organizers. Union Station has opened up its doors for an event before and after the parade, says Craig Schneider, Welcome Home Parade Organizer. “Union station has opened their doors so our dream of this veterans resource village where we can get people and groups together that are welcoming them back and kind of helping them out, Union Station has opened its doors. So it’s all going to be inside at Union Station now.”
The parade will start run down Market street starting at Kiener Plaza and end at Union Station.
And they’ve started to get calls and emails and Facebook postings from around the U.S. from the invasion in 2003 until the end of the war in late 2011 while American troops fought and died in Iraq.
So far the group is operating on Facebook. On a page titled ‘Make January 28th Welcome Home the Heroes from Iraq Day.’
The organizers are asking for donations here.
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Published May 23, 2012 at 4:57 am - 67 Comments
retire05 commented:
Jim, the Veterans Memorial used to be right by Union Station. Is it still there?
Patty commented:
Great for them about time more cities should follow their lead.
God Bless Them
TeachX3 commented:
YES!
Stuart commented:
Across the generations: Welcome home and thanks for your service.
From a Viet Nam Vet;
Mickey commented:
Welcome Home!
Jim Hoft commented:
Retire05 – The Veterans Memorial is a block off of Market Street and the parade route. A few blocks east of Union Station.
cj_thespook commented:
What time does it start?
bg commented:
++
It Has Always Been The Soldier
It is the soldier,
not the President who gives US Democracy.
It is the soldier,
not the Congress who takes Care of US.
It is the soldier,
not the Reporter who has given us Freedom of Press.
It is the soldier,
not the Poet who has given us Freedom of Speech.
It is the soldier,
not the campus [community] Organizer who
has given us the Freedom to Demonstrate.
It is the soldier,
who salutes the flag;
who serves beneath the flag,
and whose coffin is draped by the flag,
that allows the protester to burn the flag.
~ Father Dennis O’Brien, US Marine Corp. Chaplain
God Bless America!
God Bless Soldiers everywhere for putting THEIR
lives on the line to protect us ALL from terrorism!
==
bg commented:
++
re: #8 January 18, 2012 at 1:11 pm bg
THANK YOU TO YOU & YOURS FROM ME, MINE & OURS!!
==
bg commented:
++
God Bless & Thank You St. Louis!!
==
Andreas K. commented:
Welcome Home Parade? Great idea.
Victory parade? What victory? Iraq is already lost. Give it ten years and it’ll be Iran 2.0. That’s unavoidable as long as islam has the country in its claws.
bg commented:
++
Andreas K. #11 January 18, 2012 at 1:15 pm
==
#1AMERICAN commented:
ozero hussein HATES america…all mooslums hate our country…time to get rid of this commie SOB in less than 10 months
The conservative soapbox commented:
If this is really done to support the troops, then I wholeheartedly support it!! BUT…I haven’t been able to find any information on the organizers- I just want to be sure that this isn’t going to be used in any way, as a stump issue for mccaskill or Obama-i.e. pictures of the troops returning home, and subsequent parade, as “proof” that they are so “great” in uninvolving us in foreign affairs. I would hate for our troops to be pawns in their game
Trust but verify…
Reno_Dave commented:
One can only hope that some of the gangs who play The Knockout Game will be foolish enough to start trouble at the parade, and give St. Louis another reason to celebrate the return of the vets.
Adi commented:
Surely The Wohn won’t miss such a pretty good photo op.
annonymous commented:
WELCOME HOME! Thank you for your service to our nation. Thank you for being willing to make the ultimate sacrifice in answering the call of duty to defend the United States of America. God bless you all. We are only as free as our ability to defend ourselves. All glory goes to God and to you.
SSBN 627(B) commented:
Even a long-suffering-long-term-pond-scum Mets fan can say that St. Louis is a classy place.
WELCOME HOME, VETS!
Thank you for your service and sacrifice. May God Bless you and keep you.
Patrick Rohrbach commented:
To the Conservative Soapbox I love a thinker who knows the enemy and how they think and work. It would not surprise me one bit for them to use this. A liberal and/or conservatives dream photo opp. Since this was just another of our criminal employees/politicians of both parties False Flag operation. we have Democrat/Communist or the Republican/Nazis with just 11 American politicians in DC. With Iran as their next conquest at our military men and womens’ expense. RON PAUL 2012 & 2016 to tear down their crimehouse…
bg commented:
++
Patrick Rohrbach #21 January 18, 2012 at 3:57 pm
aah, i see, you’d rather be clicking your heels, uhm, i mean bowing to
Mecca than defend America, oh wait, you’re a keyboard warrior for an
man who hides behind the Constitution..
God Bless America!!
and you druggie, pedophilic, racist, truthers can go to hell..
==
trutherator commented:
Deja vu all over again. Around 1969 or 1970 there was a march to support the Vietnam War in reaction to all the anti-war demonstrations. I was a radical student at Washington University then, a Communist duped by the idea of helping the poor. But the leaders of the radical movement at that time and after got me so disillusioned with their snot-nosed attitude toward the “hard-hats” it helped me on my way to disillusionment with at all. I’ve always been in favor of helping the poor, but now I know the best way to do it is to give government a good kick back into its place and letting the free market do its thing.
Air Force veteran Ron Paul is a true friend to vets and active military, and the best one for a strong national defense, that’s why active military are supporting him in more numbers and dollars than all the other presidential candidates combined! Sending them on useless endless wars instead of self-defense is not supporting the troops. We’re broke and can’t afford it if we don’t end the Fed and the fiat dollar.
trutherator commented:
Not exactly a “victory” in Iraq, now you have a strong Shia government next door to Shia Iran. And Iraq kicked us out because they couldn’t agree to American terms. Lot of good interventionism does.
texas commented:
YeeHaw!! it’s about ding dang time!!!
God bless the Troops!! Now let’s honor them….on with the Welcome Home Parade.
Jose commented:
I’m sure it would be a grand event and a fitting way to show our gratitude ….for a day or 2 … I can’t wait for the gay colorful units and the hard realities of the many disable units…
Unfortunately after that … they can return to reality …unemployment, homelessness, deportation… .hardships galore
oneinstlouis commented:
As a person who is volunteering to help out and lives in St. Louis, I think some people posting here have not seen the Facebook site. This is NOT political, not about anything but showing our thanks to our veterans, period. I for one am proud and honored to be a part of this wonderful day!
LaDonna Appelbaum commented:
As one of the parade /event organizers I can proudly say this is about people and NOT politics. We built this idea on FB 3 of us, Now we have over 3700 friends on our page. The parade is great and thanks to the city officials, police and fire department for really backing us. The event inside Union station is awesome. We have almost 100 different Veteran Organizations lined up to give help and reach out to our heroes that need transition… whether it’s medical, employment and or family needs. I challenge other cities to step up. Not one of these soldiers asked for it…..but we are giving to them anyway. I thank my President for ending the war in Iraq….God Bless all of you!
Zachary commented:
For information about the parade, please visit http://january28group.org/
“It’s about people, not politics.”
This event was built from the ground up by a small group of every day Saint Louis residents. From the very beginning, they’ve opposed any notions towards attempting to wrangle this into a political event.
Jose:
“I’m sure it would be a grand event and a fitting way to show our gratitude ….for a day or 2 … I can’t wait for the gay colorful units and the hard realities of the many disable units…
Unfortunately after that … they can return to reality …unemployment, homelessness, deportation… .hardships galore”
Jose, this event is not merely a celebration of their return, but a grand fundraiser event in which veterans services group from every state in the union are represented, including those specifically geared towards benefiting homeless and destitute veterans.
OohRah Mama commented:
As a new resident of the St. Louis area as well as the PROUD mother of two Iraq Vet-U.S. Marines, I am thrilled to see my new home honor our vets in this way. I am much less thrilled that once again, our loved ones’ sacrifices are cheapened for political purposes. You’ve dragged their Commander-in-Chief into the story, negatively, needlessly. I don’t care whether people like the President or don’t. I do care that people can’t simply write a single column that isn’t off-base because they don’t agree with who’s in charge. If you really care about our troops’ services, then just write a piece that says so. Criticize Obama, criticize Romney, criticize any politician when it’s appropriate, but focus on the heroes when they are the ones to whom the story belongs. Be grateful to our men & women who serve and stand on that. I certainly encourage you to come find my sons and I at this parade to tell us you remember what is truly important in all this – our returning vets. Not political opinions, not how many visitors come to these sites. THEM, not you. I’ll be the Marine Mama proudly wearing a “Two of The Few” shirt…and looking for you to do the right thing. – L. Holman, Arnold, MO
Mary commented:
St Louis always comes through. How great are the soldiers who give us freedom. Thank you and God bless you all.