Photographer: Marc Schultz

Veterans Alphonso Meadows, left, and Harry Sembrat watch the annual Veterans Day parade in Albany on Tuesday.

ALBANY — Despite temperatures that hovered in the 40s, hundreds of people turned out on Tuesday for the city’s annual Veterans Day parade.

The parade was the largest of events in the Capital Region to honor those who served in the military. Other events included a remembrance at the Saratoga National Cemetery and a ceremony aboard the USS Slater at the Port of Albany.

World War II veterans Alphonso Meadows and Harry Sembrat were among the veterans who came to watch or march in the parade, which lasted nearly an hour. They hadn’t met before, but their service was a common thread between them and they reminisced as bands and officials marched down Central Avenue toward the Capitol.

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“It’s a significant day,” said the 87-year-old Meadows, who lives in Albany. “I’m proud to still be around to tell about it. I made it through all of this.”

He said he has seen wars from World War II to Iraq and it’s given him pause. “Wars do not cause us not to have other wars. I’m not really proud we have to have wars. We should have more of a brotherhood and accept the lesson: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do to you.’ ”

Other veterans said it’s important to attend the parade and pay tribute to those who have served.

“It’s a reminder that freedom isn’t free,” said Vietnam veteran Tom Burke of Albany.

After the U.S. involvement in Vietnam, Veterans Day began to fade in popularity and fewer parades and ceremonies are held in cities across the country. But local veterans are a passionate and active group and attendance has remained steady at the annual parade.

U.S. Rep. Michael McNulty, D-Green Island, watched the parade from inside a trolley that carried him along the parade route. For years he walked this parade and others, but he suffered from childhood polio and recently has had more difficulties walking long distances.

“As a citizen of the country it’s important to remember that if not for the service and sacrifices of all the people who served in the military through the years, the rest of us would not be able to be going around bragging how we live in the freest, most open democracy in the world,” McNulty said.

His older brother Bill was killed in Vietnam in 1970. A medical corpsman, he was in the field patching up his buddies when he stepped on a land mine.

“On a daily basis I try to remember my brother Bill and all those who made sacrifices,” said McNulty.

He said it’s an important day to look people in the eye who were willing to put their lives on the line and “thankfully came back.”

The forerunner to Veterans Day was Armistice Day, set aside Nov. 11, 1919, to honor those living and dead who served with U.S. forces during World War I, which ended at 11 a.m. on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918.

In 1938, Congress made it a national holiday.

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