Virgin Islanders came out to pay tribute to those who have served our country in two days of Veterans Day activities spanning across all three islands.
The commemoration started with an afternoon kickoff parade in Cruz Bay Sunday on St. John, followed by a 9:30 a.m. parade Monday in Frederiksted on St. Croix and finishing with a 3 p.m. parade down Veterans Drive in Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas.
Office of Veteran Affairs chose to highlight three veterans with 70 years of collective military experience: On St. John the retired Staff Sergeant Elvis Lewis, on St. Croix the retired Command Sergeant Major Charles David and on St. Thomas the retired Major General Cleave McBean.
Several groups and organizations were involved in the three parades including many of the islands’ schools, Girl Scouts of America, various branches of service and the USVI 73rd Army Band.
The streets rang with drums tapping out martial cadence and attendees delighted as instrumentalist from various marching bands performed patriotic compositions while marching down the street in uniform.
The theme for this year’s parades was “Service” which the Office of Veteran Affairs said, “covers every single service member that served at one point.”
