Our Veteran's Day

(Some pictures courtesy of my friend. Captions by B.)

Since R was going to be marching in the NYC Veteran's Day Parade, we made a trip to the city to watch. Grandma J was here visiting so she came along. Also, a friend and her two girls joined us so they could watch their dad in the parade also.

Since the newly built and commissioned USS New York, was in port and open for tours, we decided to make a stop there too. The ship is built with steel from the World Trade Center Towers in its bow. Although it is a Naval ship, its primary function is to transport Marines and their vehicles.

We all got up nice and early and headed off to the city, making our first stop at the USS New York. I was expecting a quick walk through the ship and therefore was quite surprised when we bored and were told, "You can pretty much touch and climb on everything." And they meant it.
All throughout the areas of the ship where we were allowed, and up on the flight deck, there were vehicles, helicopters, and weapons, all of which we climbed on, sat in, and even got to hold. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Several of the vehicles and weapons we had seen before, but we had never been allowed to climb in and on and hold them before. We spent almost 2 hours in the ship and could have easily spent another 2 but we had to get to the parade and see R.

B in a Huey helicopter.

C in a Huey helicopter.


Huey Cobra helicopter gunship.

C and my friend's daughters in front of Hammerhead helicopter.

P in jeep.

B with R.P.G. (rocket propelled grenade).

C with unknown weapon.

C in A.P.C. (armored personnel carrier) cockpit.

B in A.P.C. cockpit.

The whole experience on the ship was made even more special be the Marines that were there. There were Marines everywhere, answering questions and helping the kids have a great experience. They'd help them crawl in and out of the hatches of some of the vehicles, show them how to fire the weapons, and then let them pull the trigger and pretend they were shooting. At the Armored Personnel Carrier a very patient Marine was helping kids, one at a time, crawl out the hatch and onto the top, where he'd place a helmet on their head, show them how to hold the weapon and fire it, and then get them all positioned just right so the Mom down below could get a great picture.

After spending two hour on the ship, we walked just over a mile into the city and set up to watch the parade.
The band was one of the first units in the parade so we didn't have to wait too long to see them.
R is playing bass drum.
We didn't stay for the whole parade as, after an hour, everyone was pretty tired and ready to go.