Sacramento's Veterans Day Parade honors veterans, focuses on milestones
SACRAMENTO - A day to celebrate our veterans as hundreds gathered at the California State Capitol Saturday for Sacramento's Veterans Day Parade. The ceremony had a focus on some very important milestones.
The streets of Capitol Mall were lined with people honoring the nation's veterans.
"It's a cliche, but every day should be Veterans Day," Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said.
Saturday's celebration commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War and 75 years of women serving in the military.
"Women in this country have made equal or even greater sacrifices than men when it comes to serving our country," Steinberg said.
Katy Hammond of Rancho Cordova is a teacher and an assistant scoutmaster. Her and her troop marched in Saturday's downtown parade.
As someone with family in the military, Veterans Day means celebrating her relatives and their service to the country.
"If it weren't for our military and for the people who go out there and risk their lives every day, we wouldn't get to have the lives that we have," Hammond said.
For some veterans, it means gathering with other veterans and sharing a bond of brothers in arms.
"On this day, we're all brothers," a veteran said. "We're all on the same team same fight, so it's good to go around talk to guys and chalk it up."
Lindsey Syn, California's Veterans Affairs Secretary, read Gov. Gavin Newsom's annual Veterans Day proclamation honoring the 1.6 million veterans across the state.
"And my agency's responsibility is to connect those veterans and those family members with the benefits they have earned and deserve," Syn said.
Some of those benefits include waived fees for vehicle registration, business and property tax exemptions and more. To find out how to receive those benefits, click here.
Veterans were also honored at the American Legion Magellan Post 604. They're hosting a Veterans Day dinner party in south Sacramento.
The event also doubled up as a fundraiser for the renovation of the 73-year-old Magellan Hall.