Rain doesn't slow Baltimore City Veterans Day Parade: 'We owe it to all of them'

BALTIMORE - Military veterans were honored on Friday with a parade through Baltimore.

Despite the rainy conditions, the weather did not slow the parade.

RECAP: The annual Baltimore City Veterans Day Parade

"Veterans Day means everything to me and all other veterans because a lot of time we never got recognition," Marlon Bowie Sr., a retired U.S. Army staff sergeant.

[SLIDESHOW: The annual Baltimore City Veterans Day Parade]

The annual Baltimore City Veterans Day Parade started at noon at the Washington Monument, on North Charles Street, and ended at the War Memorial Plaza, on Holliday Street.

WJZ was the proud media sponsor of the Baltimore City Veterans Day Parade.

The Grand Marshal of the Veterans Day Parade was the Maj. Gen. Janeen Birckhead, the Adjutant General of the Maryland National Guard. She is the only African-American woman leading a state military in the nation.

Mayor Brandon Scott marched alongside dignitaries, veterans and military personnel. 

"We have to thank those folks who put their lives on the lines for us," Scott said. "All the freedoms and all the things we enjoy, we have to celebrate them. When you think about what they do, it's very personal. They are folks who put their lives at risk for all of us. We owe it all to them."

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a veteran himself, also walked the route and shook hands with other veterans.

Several JROTCs, sororities and fraternities, the University of Baltimore Veterans Group, the Jewish War Veterans of the USA-Free Post 167 and the Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club were among the participants.

"It takes a special person to raise their hand when the country asks, to leave their family, to go and deploy to a place where they know being in harm's way is literally the definition of what you are doing," Gov. Moore said.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley said it was an emotional day for him as he celebrated his father, a World War II veteran.

"His birthday is on Veterans Day," Worley said. "He was born 11/11/1923, so he would have been 100 years old today, tomorrow actually, but we are celebrating it today to thank all of the veterans who have gone before us and who led the path for us to be a free country today."

On this fall morning, there was nothing that could have kept Stephanie Avery away from the parade. 

"I'm out here because of my dad, God rest his soul, he did things he had to do in the rain, in the snow, in the blow, whatever," Avery said. "It didn't matter to him, so it shouldn't matter to me."

Following the parade, there was a wreath-laying ceremony at The Black Soldiers Memorial at the War Memorial Plaza.  

The Veterans Day Parade returned to Baltimore in 2022 for the first time since 2019 because of the COVID pandemic.   

"Simply saying thank you for your service, it goes a long way," said Dan Hershkowitz, a retired U.S. Army General.