Patriots

People and objects at the Veterans Day parade, with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

Some readers will recall that Samuel Johnson, author of the first comprehensive dictionary of the English language, said that patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. I suppose there are different kinds of it.

     

Shriners

Entertainment at the Veterans Day Parade. These guys always show up at our major parades like Mardi Gras and St. Patrick's Day. They are Shriners, an extension of the Masons. All Shriners are Masons but not all Masons are Shriners (see https://www.shrinersinternational.org/Shriners/MasonShriners/Masons). The order does good work, supporting special hospitals for children throughout the country, even if they are a little, um, off kilter.

Shriners adopt a bunch of Arabic themes - they have not shared the mysterious reasons with me - but wear a fez, which is, of course, not Arabian. (Interesting history at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fez .) They like to clown around. The crowd goes wild, if there is one.  

Veterans Day

Today is Veterans Day in the US. Yesterday was the centennial of Armistice Day, when the peace treaty ending World War I was signed on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. (There is a terrific World War I museum in Kansas City, well worth the visit.) 

Most of the participants and pronouns were masculine. Some one remembered that the list of those who served is much broader.        

About To Start

 

Tomorrow is Veterans Day in the US. There was a ceremony yesterday at the newly-restored Soldiers Memorial downtown (more about which soon.) Then there was a big if sparsely attended parade. The fire department always hoists this huge flag for such events.

We had a fair sized investment firm here, A. G. Edwards, that got bought out by Wells Fargo a few years ago. They kept that business here. The company brings out its iconic stagecoach for parades. That's the central branch of the St. Louis Public Library in the background, also lovingly restored a few years ago.         

Police Escort

St. Louis police motorcycles are simple and stark, if those words apply to Harley Davidson hogs. The black paint jobs and black leather outfits are intimidating, probably on purpose. Hot cops.

I'd love to have these guys flanking my car on a day I'm late for work.
                     

Who Loves The Cymbals Player?

Some are better accepted than others. Maybe it has to do with the band.                

Old Soldiers Never Die

They just ride on the back of antique buses. That's a proud, confident face and posture.

I'm puzzled by the tee shirt in the second picture. Is it honorable to blindly follow orders for the sake of they-know-not what? They sure know the country and the people by the time they leave. Ask them what they think of their commanders then.                  

Group Portrait

I'm not sure whether these young men are actually sailors or students in a high school or college military training program. Some of them don't look like they could legally buy a beer. There is also a real lack of enthusiasm about being in the Veterans Day parade. Maybe they are usually off on Saturday.

Love the oddball on the left wearing shades.                   

Veterans Day

Today is Veterans Day in the United States, when we honor the men and women who served in our military forces. The occasion is taken very seriously these days. It's common to hear civilians saying "thank you for your service" to uniformed personnel. However, people of my age remember the scorn and derision heaped on veterans returning from the Vietnam War. Times change. Attitudes change.

The annual parade in STL takes place on the Saturday before the event. There are usually more people marching down the street than observers on the sidewalk. One of this year's features was a bald eagle, the quintessential American symbol, held by a staff member of the St. Louis Wild Bird Sanctuary.                            

An Old Sailor

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Another shot from last weekend's Veterans Day parade. This old sailor still has a lot of snap in his salute. Note the word Seabees under the windshield. They are, in effect, the U. S. military's civil engineers and construction company. A can-do bunch of people.

Our traditional naval sailor's hat is a little strange. It looks like it would blow off easily in ocean winds and simply collect water when it rains.

Veterans Day Parade

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Veterans Day in the U.S. is on November 11, the date the armistice was signed ending World War I. It used to be called Armistice Day but we've been in so much other trouble since 1918 the name has been generalized.

The parade is the Saturday before, of course, but it's a good time to reflect on what patriotism means in this mongrel nation of ours. It's different from countries that have a common cultural and ethnic core, like Japan or France. We are the stewpot of states; everybody came here. We are wildly diverse. What is it our patriots hold such fierce allegiance to? A system of government founded by upper class British ex-pats in a far different time? An idea - perhaps a fantasy - of individualism, unbounded growth and manifest destiny? It would have been interesting to ask people after the parade why they hold this country dear above all others, but I was cold, I'd been on my feet for two hours and I wanted to back to my office.

On another topic, reader Julie from Sydney left a comment yesterday asking but tell me Bob, why does St Louis have a Pinocchio statue? Is there an Italian connection, a Disney connection or a lying connection? Well, we do have an important Italian population and, I'm sure, as many liars per capita as any other city. However, one of our glories is that we have two statues of Pinocchio, and in the same park! Citygarden is a two square block oasis of modern and contemporary sculpture in the heart of downtown. It contains Jim Dine's version seen yesterday (actually called Big White Gloves) and Tom Otterness' take on the theme, Kindly Geppetto. It just is that way.

Patriotic Corvettes

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Another shot from the Veterans Day parade. I just like the color and the horsepower. Every American male must have had fantasies of owning a Corvette at some time or other but it would be madness. My first car was a Triumph TR 4. That was somewhere between madness and utter folly.

In Dallas, Texas, on business today. Maybe I'll get me some barbeque and Lone Star beer tonight.