Veterans Day marked with parade, memorial ground-breaking — VIDEO
The crowd cheered Wednesday as a pair of ladder trucks raised a U.S. garrison flag high into a cloudless sky over Carson Avenue where it crosses Fourth Street.
The sight of the flag unfurling made Gulf War veteran Armando Loza teary-eyed as he watched in his jacket emblazoned on the back with a large yellow-and-black Army 1st Cavalry Division patch.
"I lost a lot of good friends," said Loza, a former sniper and staff sergeant from Las Vegas. "That's my flag. I'll die for that flag."
Minutes later, the Navy Band played "Anchors Aweigh" as it marched up Fourth Street, and the annual Veterans Day parade got underway with thousands of patriotic spectators cheering along the route through downtown.
The parade was still going on an hour later when Gov. Brian Sandoval stood to speak outside the Sawyer Building to mark the groundbreaking for the long-sought Las Vegas Veterans Memorial.
It will be a national tribute to veterans of all eras, with 18 larger-than-life statues of U.S. military personnel from the Revolutionary War to the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and the Middle East.
The $2.2 million project is being designed and produced by bronze sculptor Douwe Blumberg and sponsored by the Las Vegas Veterans Memorial Foundation and American Shooters Inc., in partnership with the state of Nevada. It is scheduled to open May 27, the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, seven years after it was envisioned.
"I knew without question … that this was something that had to happen," Sandoval told an audience of veterans, students and Nevada military personnel gathered on the edge of the 2-acre memorial site near the state office building. "The stories of the men and women who served in our armed forces must be told.
"We are a stronger nation today because of the sacrifices they have made in the past. They have faced the conflicts and fought in the wars that define eras and generations of Americans. They define who we are."
The governor predicted that the memorial "will become a place for students to learn about our history. ... This will be a location to remember the human cost of war, where family members can come to grieve and pray for solace.
"And this will be a space where soldiers returning home can take their comforts, and know that we will never, ever forget their sacrifice," Sandoval said.
Scott Tiano, executive director of the Las Vegas Veterans Memorial, said the project's vision was "to connect one generation of veterans to the next" and draw upon the common bonds of service to "provide a place to reflect, heal, forgive and move on."
Back at the parade, Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., an Army Reserve brigadier general, wore his dress blues to serve as grand marshal for the procession's 100 entrants.
"I'm thinking of all who came before me and served over the years," Heck said as he waved to the crowd from a convertible. "We need to make sure we can maintain the freedom and liberty that made this nation great."
— Contact Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308. Find him on Twitter: @KeithRogers2
