When Irish Eyes Aren't Smiling

You remember the old song. However, not everyone found the parade to be a barrel o'laughs. Some people just have a serious air about them.

Top: uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. Bottom, a U.S. Marine Corps band. I don't know why they wore fatigues and combat boots rather than dress uniforms. You may have heard that St. Louis has some mean streets.                                             

Homecoming Parade

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Small town America: Marysville, Kansas, has a population of about 3,500 and it's doing pretty well. It is the seat of Marshall County and serves as the commercial center for the surrounding hamlets and farms. Friday night was the homecoming parade, town party and high school football game. As a TV commercial once had it, it's as American as baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet.

The best place to shoot a parade is the staging area, when the participants aren't moving and no one walks into your shot. From top to bottom, we have the Marine honor guard, junior football players, cheerleaders, bikers from the local American Legion post, a member of the high school band and one of the ugliest school mascots around, the Marysville Bulldog.

I saw that the bikers were from the American Legion from the back of their vests. Their large hall was the site of the Class of 1962's party on Saturday. Kansas' alcohol laws are a bit regressive but the Legion is a private club and had a bar. I asked the guys if it was well stocked. They told me not to worry, and they were right. A Tanqueray and tonic for $4. Can't beat that.

Thursday Arch Series

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Most of my Arch shots try to look at the monument in some new way. Here I just added a prop, a big helicopter from the recent Marine Week.

Downtown St. Louis 365 wishes you peace and cool feet.

U.S. Marines Assult On St. Louis!

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So here's what's up: it's Marine Week in St. Louis. The U. S. Marine Corps is putting on a six-day show in our town. I think it's about recruitment and public relations. Can't imagine why they need the latter: they are held in very high esteem in this country. They have had displays of all sorts of equipment downtown, seen in the last few posts. I learned that they did this over the last two years in Chicago and Boston.

The big event was yesterday, a mock assault on the Arch grounds by air, sea and land. Regardless of your thoughts about the military, it was a great show. This is a tiny sample of the squillion pictures I took. More on the way when I edit them.

Marines float like a butterfly and sting like a bee on Downtown St. Louis 365.

Fit And Disciplined

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Veterans Day in the U.S. is this Thursday, November 11. St. Louis had its parade yesterday. A group of Marines walked through, dropped to the street and started doing push-ups in unison. I didn't count how many they did but it seemed like a lot. I could no sooner do this than leap over the Arch.

Having gotten rid of some excess energy, they marched ahead in tight formation. Sergeant Peck (look closely at the bottom picture if it's clear enough) led the way. No question who was in charge.