A Tribute To The People Who Attended The 2003 Memorial Day Parade

On behalf of local Posts 7 and 521 of the American Legion, let me compliment the 15,000 or so people who lined Green Street for the 2003 memorial Day parade. They were incredible ... polite, very family-oriented, obviously patriotic and truly "Glad to be an American." Most exciting were those families who came early and got their children situated where they had a good view of the whole thing. And, when the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts and the others came along handing out flags, you could literally see parents teaching their children the basics of flag etiquette and encouraging them to wave their newly-acquired symbols of the United States of America. The crowd, as well as the parade, was fun to watch.

But let me tell you another thing about this crowd of American patriots. The Legionnaires had been concerned that beautiful old Green Street might be trashy at the end of the parade It seems like a lot of that kind of behavior has gone on lately. So they had an informal group that had agreed - to use the military term - to "police" the street immediately after the parade. One of the first clean-up crew members that went down the street immediately after the parade told me later he saw only one ... one, mind you ... piece of trash along the entire length of Green Street, and the thought struck me: what a wonderful commentary on the people who attended this 2003 Memorial Day ceremony ... the people of Northeast Georgia who are "Proud To Be An American." What a great bunch of people you are.

This is Gordon Sawyer, from a window on historic Green Street.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2003/6/177780