City honors U.S. military
Cold and soggy weather didn’t dampen the spirits of the crowds who lined Market Street to celebrate Chattanooga’s 68th annual Armed Forces Day parade Friday morning.
This year’s parade, featuring the United States Air Force, launched with a flyover of two F-16 fighter jets and brass notes of “The U.S. Air Force Song,” whose opening lines declare, “Off we go into the wild blue yonder.”
Even though low clouds prevented spectators from seeing Lt. Col. Dave Snodgrass and Maj. Gen. Richard Scobee flying their F-16s over the parade route, they did not prevent the pilots from honoring their sisters and brothers in the armed forces.
June Scobee Rodgers, widow of Challenger space shuttle commander Dick Scobee and founding chairwoman of the Challenger Centers, said she wasn’t sure
her son had made the flyover.
“He told me, ‘Momma, I did fly over, you just couldn’t see me,’” Rodgers said after receiving a call from her son when he landed back in Texas in the early afternoon.
Rodgers said her son had told her that a low cloud ceiling made it too dangerous for the jets to fly below them.
The Chattanooga Area Veterans Council said Scobee, a command pilot, has earned 3,800 flight hours, including 248 combat hours. He serves as the 10th Air Force commander at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth.
Rodgers couldn’t be prouder of the service her son has given his country.
“Just to know he gave it his all is all a mother could ask for, and knowing that he kept us safe,” Rodgers said.
The parade, sponsored by Hamilton County and the veterans council, attracted nearly 100 entries, organizers said.
The 40-minute procession included Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps units and high school bands, offering drills, patriotic songs and sports anthems. Vintage military vehicles intermingled with newer models, showing off hardware dating back to the 1940s. Plenty of civilian convertibles and trucks could be found in the mix along Market Street, as well.
Two Air Force veterans served as parade marshals: Jack Rolfson, a World War II B-17 bomber pilot, and Eugene Parrott, a Korean War fighter pilot. Both waved to the cheering crowds as they made the journey toward the Tennessee Aquarium.
Lt. Gen. Arnold W. Bunch Jr., senior military deputy for the office of the assistant Air Force secretary for acquisition at the Defense Department, served as the parade’s senior reviewing officer.
Before the parade’s start, he praised Chattanoogans for their ongoing commitment to those who serve in the nation’s military, during a joint conference with U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann at the Read House.
“It really means a lot to the veterans and to the people who wear the uniform to know that that service is appreciated and recognized by so many of the community,” Bunch said.
He thanked the volunteers and organizers who worked behind the scenes to make the Armed Forces Day parade happen, citing the passion he saw while getting to know them the night before.
“It’s very obvious that this is not a one-day event, it’s something that many of the people in
this community live each and every day to make sure that that service is appreciated and the veterans are taken care of,” Bunch said.
“This is a day, as Americans and Chattanoogans, we can honor the men and woman who have served us in uniform and who are currently serving us in uniform,” Fleischmann said.
A sampling of parade
watchers revealed many have kept their own long-standing traditions to honor the country’s armed forces.
John Bell, 64, has come to see the Armed Force Day parade throughout his life.
“I usually come here every time I get a chance,” he said. “I’ve been coming to the parade ever since I was a little boy in the 1950s, when the parade came down Martin Luther King Boulevard.”
Bell served more than 33 years in the Army as part of the 1-181st Field Artillery Brigade, going to the Middle East in the early 1990s.
He recounted how he worked as a mechanic and talked about how easy it was to jump out of helicopters when he earned his airborne certification.
“I’ve done it all,” Bell said.
William Nelson sat and smiled, watching the marching bands go by.
It’s been a tradition for him, as well, he said, adding he got to be in the parade when he was in the Brainerd High School Band.
Rhonda Ashby said she and her husband, Randy, a retired major in the army, came to see their son.
“Our son is marching with East Brainerd today,” she said.
Randy Ashby said little as she explained he was a highly decorated combat veteran.
As the color guard passed, he gave a sharp, solemn salute.