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San Angelo parade to honor recently wounded veterans
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Hundreds of people lined River Drive today in downtown San Angelo to show their appreciation to 26 veterans who were wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan. Watch »
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This year's Hunt for Heroes parade in San Angelo won't be contained to the streets.
It will extend all the way to the West Texas sky.
On Friday, 26 veterans who were injured in Iraq and Afghanistan will roll through San Angelo on their way to a weekend deer hunt on several Concho Valley-area ranches. The veterans will be honored with a flyover by a Black Hawk helicopter piloted by San Angelo native 1st Lt. Jordan Boyd.
The 27-year-old, who has served a tour in Iraq, said the honor of flying in the parade is all his.
"I just want to help out in any way I can," he said. "I was lucky enough to stay out of being wounded, and it's pretty much an honor to be with those guys. They are unbelievable guys."
The parade and hunt are organized in concert with "Show of Support Military Hunts - Hunt for Heroes." The annual hunts are organized by Terry Johnson of Midland.
This year, the veterans will ride golf carts in the parade so people lining the streets can more easily exchange greetings with them. Last year's parade drew hundreds of San Angelo residents to the riverside route.
Along with the hunts, the veterans will receive a new Ruger rifle and scope with their name engraved on it. They also get hunting boots and a knife and backpack, said Sonny Cleere, who helped organize the event.
The veterans will leave Midland on Friday morning for the drive to San Angelo. Along the way, students at Garden City and then Sterling City will line the streets of their towns and wave flags in honor of the veterans.
A motorcycle escort will pick up the caravan at the Tom Green County line and lead them to San Angelo. Last year, thousands of parade-goers came out to honor the veterans.
"It's the most patriotic thing you have ever seen," Cleere said.
The parade also will feature a color guard from Goodfellow Air Force Base, drum corps from Angelo State University and personnel from the Marines, Air Force and Navy, Cleere said.
From San Angelo, the group travels to the Rocking Chair Ranch southeast of San Angelo for a steak dinner before the Saturday hunt.
Some of the veterans who hunted in years past volunteered to come back this year and act as guides, Cleere said.
The three-day event is a show of support and a way to say "job well-done," Cleere said.
"It's something we perhaps forget to say sometimes," he said. "We're taught that when we are young, and sometimes we forget. In some parts of the country, this couldn't happen. Here, they will be received in open arms. It's West Texas, and it's San Angelo."
Boyd, a Central High School graduate, will fly to Austin after the parade.
From there, he'll drive back to San Angelo to take part in the hunt. He helped guide last year and said this is a an event he didn't want to miss.
"I just really enjoy hanging out with them," Boyd said. "They are really good guys with huge hearts. I would hope someone would do the same thing for me."
Boyd, from the 36th Combat Aviation Brigade in Austin, has already spent a year in Iraq and said he will be sent overseas again in either 2010 or 2011.
The veterans enjoy the hunt because they love being outdoors and meeting each other, he said.
"They just like going out and hunting," Boyd said. "It's a chance for them to get out and just mingle. We just try to go out and get them a deer. It's fun to get out there and hunt with them."
The event
Parade route: Assemble on David Street, south to Santa Fe Park Drive, turn east and go down to River Drive past Kids Kingdom and past YMCA and down to Irving Street.
Start time: Troops are expected to arrive about 11:30 a.m. Friday.
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