By Joel Langton
The 830 Times
Del Rio will take time to honor veterans Monday with a parade and ceremony.
The parade is spearheaded by Enrique Trevino and Esme Meza. Trevino is the Val Verde County Veterans Services officer and Meza serves as the City of Del Rio’s Community Services Director.
“Our city and county agree that it’s vital that we always stop and honor our community’s veterans,” said Trevino. “They have done so much for not only our community but our nation.”
The parade begins at 10 a.m. at Star Park at located on North Main Street and will proceed to 17th Street, where it will go for two blocks to Veterans Boulevard and then north for a block and turn into the Civic Center back parking lot.
“Our community always really turns out for this parade, and it’s nice to see everyone lining the street to honor our veterans, if they’re in the parade or just enjoying it,” Meza said.
She added that the registration for the event is proceeding at a record pace.
“Our community is always great about honoring its veterans but it seems like this year, there’s a particular intensity about it. Our phone is really ringing off the hook,” she said.
Once the parade gets to the civic center, participants can go to the front of the civic center where there will be a short ceremony honoring veterans starting at 11:11 a.m.
The armistice ending World War I went into effect at 11:11 a.m., Nov. 11, 1918, and organizers of the event reflect that time to begin the ceremony.
If the weather is bad, the ceremony will be moved inside.
Several veterans’ representatives will speak about community programs serving veterans, and Col. (ret.) Andy Katz, former vice wing commander at Laughlin AFB, will be the keynote speaker.
Katz initially was a student pilot at Laughlin where he earned his wings and returned as a squadron commander and eventually a vice wing commander.
After retiring, his family made the decision to settle in Del Rio.
“Del Rio always felt like home to us; we had children who were born here, graduated from here and of course, Laughlin Air Force Base is very special to us, so when we retired, we really wanted to put down even deeper roots here and make it our home,” Katz said. “Del Rio is a special place.”
The writer can be reached at JoelaLangton@gmail.com .
