We woke up wondering if we would still be going to the Liberation Day 70th anniversary parade. It had been pouring down rain most of the night. Everyone decided to give it a go anyway.
The front yard of our apartment showing the effects of 4 inches of rain.
TWR staff, that were going to the parade, met at the apartments. We all went in two vehicles. Virginia and I rode with Grant and his family and parked just up the hill from the Pacific War Museum on Route 6. We walked down the hill to Marine Corps Drive (Rt 1) then east to find a good place to set up our folding camp chairs. We had walked about 1/2 mile when someone from the Lutheran Church invited us to sit under their canopy. What a fantastic opportunity to stay out of the intermittent rain storms — much better than just our umbrellas!
Thanks to the hospitality of the Lutheran Church, we had some protection from the rain and/or sun.
Some of the TWR staff that observed the parade.
The parade was supposed to start at 9 am. It rained fairly heavy until about 9:15 am. It was about 9:45 before the honor guard reached us. We were near the end of the route, about 1.5 miles from the start.
Before the parade officially started, bicyclists and motorcyclists drove the parade route. Out of about 100 motorcycles, only two were not Harley Davidsons. The flags are showing the direction and velocity of the wind. The building on top of the hill is the new Navy Hospital.
The honor guard reached us about 9:45 am followed by several marching military units
Military Marching Bands
The Red Horse squadrons are the Air Forces equivalent to the Navy Sea Bees. They are the heavy-construction units.
The crew of the submarine tender, USS Frank Cable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Frank_Cable_(AS-40)
Float entered by the USS Frank Cable crew. The water squirting from the side of the submarine would have been appreciated even more if the weather had been hot and sunny, instead of rainy!
This baby fell asleep using his big brother’s head as his ‘pillow’. These brothers are from a well-behaved family of 3 boys and 3 girls.
The theme of the parade — Generations of Service and Sacrifice. The first village float entry was from Santa Rita. It was too big to fit into one photo.
Inside the arch for “Future Generations” is a big mirror. The Santa Rita float ended up winning first place for the sixth year running.
Barrigada village float
We often see this man and his carabao in Merizo giving rides to the Cocos Island Resort tourists. He brought his carabao about 25 miles to be in the parade.
Most of the TWR children and ladies wanted to pet the carabao.
Mangilao village float — note that the mayor is under the canopy where the ‘village princess’ normally sits. Where’s Bekah?
Bekah, the Mangilao princess, is walking in high heels. Did she do this for 1-1/2 miles?!
Agat village float — Agat is the village where our apartment is located. The emblems of the various armed forces at the front of the float rotate.
One of several military floats.
Hagat village float
Mount Carmel School float — we saw this one being build down the road from our apartment.
This ‘duck’ tour boat was being used for the Bank Pacific float.
Agana Heights village float
What one boy is doing while his mom watches the parade!
Department of Education float
Vietnam Veterans Float
G4S float — G4S is a security company. Their float won first place for commercial entries.
Talofofo village float
Port of Guam float
Team Tatuma float — a team effort of the villages of Tamuning, Tumon and Harmon.
Three dogs wearing sunglasses. The two dogs riding the carabao are also wearing hats with small Guam flags.
Asan village float
Guam Power Authority using their insulator washing equipment to cool down the parade watchers, while it is raining!
Guam Power Authority float — note the solar panels on the quonset hut and the wind generator at the front.
It’s campaign time on Guam. There are big campaign signs going up everywhere.
Department of Public Works won first place among the government agency floats. Their float had three trailer units.
Yigo village float
The back of the Yigo float
Yona village float
The carabao dogs are back, but without their hats.
The Liberation Day Queen and her court bring up the end of the parade.
The parade lasted for almost 5 hours — there were a lot of large gaps between the entries, which allowed lots of time to visit. We did take some more photos on our walk back to our cars.
Next to the canopy, that we were able to use, was parked this beautiful 1948 Buick. Notice the campaign sign behind it.
I talked to the owner. He had imported it from Oregon several years ago.
Walking back to the cars, we passed the Pigo Catholic cemetery. It has 20 foot tall statues of Jesus and the 12 apostles across the entrance.
