Posted on: Tuesday, July 5, 2005
Parade salutes troops who've come home
By Loren Moreno
Advertiser Staff Writer
While this year's Kailua 4th of July Parade featured all the usual Independence Day staples — Corvette-riding politicians, Boy Scouts, fire trucks, beauty queens and marching bands — a group of 100 veterans freshly home from Iraq stole the show.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser Many stood and shouted as the troops passed while children danced and waved miniature flags to the sounds of "God Bless America."
Pinto put in a request to Marine Corps Base Hawai'i nearly three months ago to have the troops march in the parade. "We just found out less than two weeks ago that they were coming," he said.
Kyle King, 6, wearing a floppy camouflage hat, was waiting with his mother for the troops to pass. Kyle pointed out he was here to "see all the Army men, get candy and see my brother."
His mother, Chris King, a 36-year-old Kailua resident, said she has been attending the parade for 11 years and mostly came out to see her husband and older son march with Cub Scout Pack 311.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser Peter Koo, a visitor from California, brought his 4-year-old daughter Kimi to the parade.
"You don't get this kind of stuff back home," Koo said.
There were 96 entries, in all. Gov. Linda Lingle, Mayor Mufi Hannemann, Rep. Ed Case and City Councilwoman Barbara Marshall joined such participants as a half-dozen women riding horseback and trolley-riding senior citizens strumming 'ukulele.
A dozen gymnasts from Kokokahi Gymnastics Team vaulted and flipped their way down the parade route, while preschool children decked out in red, white and blue were pulled along by stroller or buggy.
A Christ Church Uniting float featured schoolchildren aboard a peace canoe decorated in stars and stripes and adorned with a 6-foot peace symbol.
Nearly every group or float was followed by a veterans group or line of military vehicles.
"We want everyone to know that Kailua celebrates all military, present and past, that allow us to have this freedom," Pinto said.
Reach Loren Moreno at lmoreno@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2455.
"The crowd is going to go wild for these guys," said Rich Pinto, chairman of the Kailua Chamber of Commerce, as the troops neared.
Three-year-old Calla Winner of Kane'ohe couldn't wait until the Kailua parade passed. She skipped onto Kainalu Drive to sneak a peek.
"It's the only small-town parade. I love it," said King, who said parades like this remind her of those in the small Canadian town she grew up in.
Gov. Linda Lingle waves to bystanders during Kailua's 4th of July Parade.
Kyle Maxwell, 8, blew bubbles against a patriotic backdrop as he waited for the parade to start. The event was highlighted by the presence of troops just back from Iraq.
