W. Spfld shows support to veterans

WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - Parades and services marked this Veterans Day throughout western Massachusetts. 22News looks in to how West Springfield paid tribute to those who have served.

Neil DeGray, a Vietnam vet, and his family were among those on the parade route.

DeGray said he comes each year to Veterans Day services to honor the men and women of the military. “It's not like the draft when you had to go in these guys are volunteering and they're going in to protect our freedom, short story.”

The parade along Kings Highway is a Veterans Day tradition in West Springfield.

Many of those who turned out for the parade were veterans, and veterans each year say that people turning out means a lot to them.

Domenic Delbuono, a World War II veteran let us know how the support for veterans makes him feel. “They show that they appreciate what ever they did cause a lot of them gave up their lives for and the freedom that we enjoy.”

Many lining the route here also wanted to stress the sacrifice that veterans made in the service of their country.

For Phyllis Casey, Veterans Day hits close to home. Her cousin was killed in World War II. “My cousin Jimmy was killed. He was killed on a destroyer by a kamikaze plane. He was killed in the Pacific; he was on the USS Whitehearst.”

That is what is remembered on Veterans Day sacrifice and service.