Perch Base USSVI 2024 Phoenix Veterans Day Parade

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Perch Base
Phoenix Veterans
Day Parade

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Sixteen Perch Base members and family took the USS Phoenix float to the Annual Phoenix Veterans Day Parade presented by the non-profit Honoring America’s Veterans (HAV) on November 11th, 2024.
We met at 8 AM to stage the float at the Firestone Complete Auto Care at 241 W Osborn Rd. Thanks to Firestone for letting us use your store lot (and bathroom!) and then rode the float to the parade starting point.
True to the military theme of "Hurry up and wait!" we arrived at the parade starting point at 9:20 AM, but as entry number 59 (of 84) we finally started to roll at 11 AM. This year’s parade theme was
"Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans, Sacrifice Remembered."
Organizers anticipated 45,000 spectators along the parade route. The Celebrity Grand Marshall was Luis Gonzalez. Seven Veteran Grand Marshals, represented each era of military service from World War II to Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan.)

Click on any thumbnail for a larger picture.

Thanks to Firestone for letting us use their parking lot to stage the USS Phoenix (SSN-702) float.

Thanks to Marcus Hensley for towing the USS Phoenix (SSN-702) float. Marcus came in from Fort Mojave (almost 250 miles!) to participate in the parade and tow our the float."

George Woods' grandsons, William & Wyatt Sisk.

Paul Miller performing Field Day. This was our first event showing off the USS Phoenix since its overhaul.

We then rolled to the starting point of the parade at the North Phoenix Baptist Church at Central Avenue & Bethany Home Road and waited for the parade to start.. We were #59 in the parade order.
Thanks to George Woods who towed the "People Trailer."

A group picture of the Perch Base attendees. Refer to the Sailing List at the bottom of the webpage to see who was there.

The parade commenced with a flyover by four vintage airplanes.

The REAL heroes of the parade!

Thank goodness for the "Pooper Scoopers," because we were only 3 entries behind the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office with their mounted posse and Carl Miner and Dan Marks were walking in their dress uniforms!

Several additional photos of the appreciative onlookers.

Card Front/Card Inside.
One of the onlookers gave us a handmade Thank You card. NICE TOUCH!

The remainder of theses photos are some of the other entries in the parade, in no particular order, as I wandered around the staging area at the North Phoenix Baptist Church:

Click on any thumbnail for a larger picture.

View the Program

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