Newcomers and returning favorites alike joined the Lawton Fort Sill Chamber of Commerce in celebrating "Generations of Defenders of Freedom" at the 35th Armed Forces Day Parade.
"This is the first time the Comanche County Veterans Council put its own float in, and the first time that 'Wreaths Across America' is entered in the parade," Dale Scott, chairman of the council, said.
Scott is spearheading an initiative by the council to place wreaths on the graves of all veterans buried in Comanche County for five weeks at Christmastime. The back panel of its parade entry carried veterans' names drawn from a list on display at Comanche County Memorial Hospital.
The council had two purposes in entering the parade, Scott said. The first is to identify all the veterans buried in Comanche County.
"We had a good response from last weekend's advertisement in the Sunday paper, and we have about 200 more names to add to the rosters. Plus the fact this is awareness that we have these 'Wreaths Across America,' where the wreaths are placed down on Dec. 15 and they're taken up around Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so that veterans will be remembered during the holiday timeframe," Scott said. Sunday, May 20, 2012
