'It's such a surreal feeling': Claremore holds Veterans Day Parade

CLAREMORE, Okla. — The city of Claremore showed up for its veterans at the annual Veterans Day parade, with flags flying and kids chanting as the procession rolled down Will Rogers Boulevard.

Dozens of organizations were represented along the route, including the 2 News Weather Chaser.

For the veterans taking part, the support from the community was hard to miss.

"It's incredible to see them lined up on the streets waving and thanking us as we go by, it's such a surreal feeling," Zach Rucker said.

Rucker, an Army veteran, serves as Quartermaster for VFW Post 2976. He said the parade brought together service members from across generations and branches.

"We've got Vietnam veterans, we have Desert Storm veterans, we got post 9/11 veterans here. We got all sorts of them. We may have served at different places, different branches, but to have something in common to come together for is really neat," Rucker said.

Veterans sharing a common bond that's anything but common.

"There's not many people that understand what some of us went through, and there's not a lot of people that we can talk to that will kind of get it to understand. And so it's really important to have a group of people like this," Rucker said.

Veterans also took part by watching from the crowd, including Vietnam War veteran Dwayne Caldwell.

"Well, it's really to show the kids about the veterans and what they've done in the past and everything, and it really helps the kids out," Caldwell said.

Caldwell said the community support made the day worthwhile.

"I think it's good, you know, it's got a lot of people in, a lot of energetic people that really likes to get out and it's always fun," Caldwell said.

For Rucker, events like these offer a welcome change of pace.

"These are a blast. It's a, it's a great to get away from the monotony of everything and to do something new," Rucker said.

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