It was an American flag waving kind of day at annual Veterans Day Parade

The red, white and blue of the American flag in the backdrop of a cloudless blue sky made the perfect setting Saturday for the annual Veterans Day Parade in Palmetto, with the Manatee County Veterans Council putting on the annual ceremony.

As students in the Del Couch Music Foundation rendered the National Anthem, hands ranging in age flew to the brims of hats in salute.

“There’s something about that moment when you hear the Star Spangled Banner,” Sarasota resident Monica Davis said. “I come from a military family and even when I was a little girl and saw my father snap to attention and salute the flag, I don’t know, there was just something powerful about the look on his face. I still get chills just thinking about it and every time I hear the National Anthem.”

Each year the Manatee County Veterans Council honors a veteran, auxiliary member and civilian of the year. Mary Silcox was given the Auxiliary Member of the Year Award. Silcox accepted the award on behalf of all auxiliary members, “Because without you, we can’t do what we do for our veterans and communities.”

Manatee Educational Television’s Charles Clapsaddle was honored with the Civilian of the Year Award for METV’s ongoing and thought-provoking productions about veterans. Bryan Jacobs was given the Veteran of the Year Award but was unable to attend. However, MCVC Chairman Carl Hunsinger said Jacobs was selected for a reason.

Jacobs, a former Navy corpsman embedded with the Marines in Iraq in 2004, saved lives. Jacobs returned home from service only to find himself homeless. But he arose out of the ashes to start the Vet-2-Chef program at the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus where he teaches other veterans his culinary skills.

“He brings homeless veterans off the streets and gives them an opportunity to be successful again,” Hunsinger said.

Along the parade route, Sean Crittenden sat with one of his daughters waiting for another daughter to march by with her JROTC class.

“Her older sister did JROTC and is now part of the Raider program at Palmetto High School,” Crittenden said. “I encouraged her to go in because of the values it teaches like discipline and trust. My brother retired from the Marines, so it’s important to make sure we are out here to support our troops and what they do for us and the sacrifices they make. It’s a very selfless thing.”

Seventeen-year-old Braden River High School student Maddy Buckley was close by with her boyfriend and his family. Buckley’s parents both served, but it was her first Veterans Day Parade. When asked if her friends at school understand who veterans are and what they do, she said, “I don’t think so. They don’t really talk about that. But I’m excited to experience this and I know it’s important to support our troops.”

Gary Tibbetts attended as a representative of Congressman Vern Buchanan’s office. Tibbetts summed it up for the younger generation who may not understand.

“Throughout history, men and women of the United States have answered the call of duty from every walk of life,” he said. “They have left family and friends. They have sacrificed time, money and comfort to serve.”

Palmetto Mayor Shirley Groover Bryant said, “This great country owes a great debt for all the veterans who have served, who are currently serving and who have served and long since passed.”

While the national news seems to be filled with every scrap of divisiveness it can muster, patriotism and pride is alive and well in Manatee County, Hunsinger said.

“Today we have many challenges going on, but let us not be divided,” he said. “All of us who have served under the flag of the United States knows every American in the United States and its territories matter. We come together as Americans. There is no time for division. We see that on the news and it seems like it’s all falling apart, but it’s not, because of each person who has served made the difference for all of us to make this a greater country every single day.”

This story was originally published November 11, 2017 at 2:51 PM with the headline "It was an American flag waving kind of day at annual Veterans Day Parade."