COLUMBUS - David Thompson did three tours in Vietnam as a Green Beret, but he still feels left out each Veterans Day because his community doesn't have a parade honoring those who served. <br>
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He and other members of the American Legion post in Columbus are trying to change that. <br>
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The group questions why Columbus, whose population is composed of more than 18 percent of veterans, the highest of any metropolitan area in Georgia, does not have a parade for its veterans. <br>
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Columbus City Manager Carmen Cavezza, a former general at Fort Benning, said he supports the idea of a Veterans Day parade in the city, and he has been in contact with the American Legion. <br>
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``I think it would be well-received and entirely appropriate, Cavezza said. <br>
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But members of the Legion aren't taking any chances. They are spreading the word throughout the community and trying to drum up support for a parade to be set up right away for 2003. Veterans Day is held on Nov. 11 each year. <br>
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With no parade in Columbus, local veterans have been going elsewhere to celebrate Veterans Day. <br>
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The American Legion organized ``La Societe des Quarante Hommes et Huit Chevaux,'' or the ``Forty et Eight,'' in 1920. The name comes from the narrow-gauge boxcars used in France during World War I that could carry 40 soldiers or eight horses. <br>
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The 40 & 8ers operate out of a desert-camouflaged, locomotive-looking bus, harkening back to the group's roots in France. The group provides children's groups with rides on the train. <br>
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Each year the group takes the locomotive bus to Birmingham, Ala., which holds the biggest Veterans Day parade in the nation. <br>
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Next year, they're hoping they can stay home.
