In St Louis they used to roll out some tanks, helicopters and do a National Guard flyby on Veteran’s Day. And there would be Colonial & Civil War reenactors with horses, WW1 & 2, Korea, Nam vets, and folks who had military “classics” like jeeps and amphibious ducks. The Native American vet groups would ride on a float with a huge drum. All the high school bands with patriotic directors would show from both sides of the river with pompom squads and flag and rifle squads.
With all the kids and families it didn’t look like an Eastern Bloc parade because it was obvious that the thing was put on to honor vets and remind people to be thankful, not some sort of communist show glorifying the equipment size and numbers.
Wow! That’s great - so many places are so intimidated by the reigning anti-Americanism now (in our own country!) that they have only tiny Veteran’s Day celebrations. But I do recall that, even in NYC where I grew up, there used to be very nice parades...no Indians, though, alas!
BTW, if you haven’t seen the movie Hostiles, go see it! It deals with a professional military man amidst the chaos of the Old West but it includes a very rational portrait of the Indian peoples too. And it’s beautiful, a true Western with great scenes of wide open spaces and lots of horses - and guns.