BOZEMAN — Every year the American Legion hosts a Memorial Day parade. I talked with community members outside the American Legion Hall in downtown Bozeman about what they thought of the celebration.
“I thought it was awesome," said one man I spoke to. "The weather was good. But there was such a great show of different parts of our community."
Another woman said, “I love seeing the community when they’re not divided and together. And I think this is one thing that brings everybody together.”
The 2024 American Legion Memorial Day Parade saw an incredible turnout Monday morning, as the community gathered to remember those who lost their lives while defending this country.
Nettie Caine tells me her father is a Navy veteran and used to be a member of the American Legion. Born and raised in Bozeman, Nettie’s been to every Memorial Day parade since she can remember and loves to get involved. On Sunday, she was selling Memorial Day bouquets.
“We had an opportunity for them to be donated to the Legion today, to have them be on the tables and add some extra beauty in the space. Everyone was like, ‘Oh ya, take it to the legion, they’ll love it there,’” says Nettie.
Community members were able to donate multiple bouquets to the American Legion for Monday morning’s parade. And although these acts of kindness show the amount of support our community has for one another, Memorial Day is about so much more.
Frank is the post adjutant for the American Legion Post 14. I asked what Memorial Day means to him.
“Memorial Day to me means that we're showing respect to the families that have lost members in tragic times of war. So this gives us an opportunity to show them they haven't been forgotten,” says Frank.
I asked Frank what it means to the members of the American Legion Post 14 to see this large of a turnout at this year's parade.
He said, “We love seeing a turnout like this. There's a lot of hard work that goes into putting the parade on and when we get an opportunity to do this, our reward is seeing the smile on all the people's faces that come out”.
