Local veteran shares Memorial Day Parade experience

Submitted photo The entire formation of Desert Storm veterans prior to the National Memorial Day parade May 30 in Washington, D.C. Retired local veteran Lila Sise Spurgeon, who participated in the parade, said "we were proud to represent the over 600,000 U.S. service members who deployed and 383 who fell in the Gulf War."

The Memorial Day weekend was a reunion of sorts and time to create new memories for retired local veteran Lila Sise Spurgeon.

On May 30, Spurgeon, a retired master sergeant from Uniontown, joined more than 500 Gulf War veterans in the American Veterans Center National Memorial Day Parade in Washington, D.C.

Spurgeon flew out to the nation's capital on May 26 for the holiday weekend activities.

Spurgeon

The parade highlighted the 25th anniversary of Operation Desert Storm thanks to the support of National Desert Storm War Memorial and the American Veterans Center, a news release said.

"The Memorial Day parade was a success," Spurgeon said in a Friday interview with the Tribune. "It was a very awesome and emotional day for all of us."

Spurgeon said she and many of her fellow soldiers continue to talk about the memorable weekend on social media.

"It's still so emotional for all of us that got together," she said. "There were 500 of us. It was just ... I don't know. You're with your brothers and sisters again. None of us really knew each other, we were all serving in different units. But we got there and you feel like family."

Several months ago, Spurgeon was in a drawing for a fund to build a memorial for Desert Storm veterans.

"A prize of the drawing was to be able to march in the Memorial Day Parade and receive the Desert Storm medal," she said in a previous Tribune story. "I was authorized for it, but never received it."

"The march; what an honor," Spurgeon said Friday. "To march in the Memorial Day parade in Washington, D.C. That was a great honor. We hadn't marched in 25 years but we stuck together as a team and we looked good."

Spurgeon said she and many of her fellow comrades-in-arms met the morning of the parade and because they had several hours before the parade started, there was plenty of time for socializing and other activities.

"We just socialized. We made sure everyone stayed hydrated," she said. "It was just looking out for our fellow man. There were French there. There were Canadians, Kuwaitis. It was an honor to get to meet everybody. We were taking photos of each other. They provided lunch for us."

Another special memory of the weekend for Spurgeon was a tour of the White House. Spurgeon said she had never personally seen the inside of the president's home.

"We got a White House tour on the Friday morning before the parade," she said. "That was awesome."