By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Students at Roosevelt Elementary School held homemade signs and waved flags as local veterans rolled by slowly honking car honors and waving back Friday during a veterans parade.
The school usually has a dinner to honor veterans on Veterans Day. Veterans who are relatives of the children eat with the kids, and the students perform a patriotic program to entertain the vets.
However, because of concerns about COVID-19, organizer Gay Flax, Roosevelt gym teacher, decided to stage an outdoor parade instead.
Ray Palmer, director of the Hays American Legion Riders, was on hand with five other Riders to lead the parade.
Palmer served in the U.S. Army from 1977 to 2012. He served in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm. During his military carer, he worked as a bridge crewman, truck driver and mechanic.
"The way I look at it is us veterans went and served our country so children and the people nowadays can have that right to get out here and honor us," he said. ...
"I am proud they can still do that and be a free country because of the sacrifice of the veterans and the people who did not come back from war have given."
The event was scheduled for Tuesday, but was moved to Friday because of rain in the forecast for next week.
