'It came from the heart of the people'

Staff photo by Shawn Patrick Ouellette

Pam Maxom of Wells holds her 7-month-old son, Brody, as they watch soldiers march Friday during the parade on Congress Street. Her husband, Capt. Shane Maxom, is serving in Iraq as company commander with the Army's 844th Engineer Battalion.

HEROES PARADE

Thousands turned out to honor their heroes Friday in Portland. See parade photos (12 images)

On Friday, the "Maine Heroes Parade" and rally honored Maine's soldiers and veterans in Portland. Check the special section for coverage of the parade, and your chance to share photos and stories from the event.

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In an exuberant display of patriotism and Patriot fanaticism, Portland and the state turned out to honor their heroes Friday.

Thousands of people lined Congress Street for the city's largest-ever ticker-tape parade, cheering Maine troops from the different military branches, emergency responders and the world champion New England Patriots.

"I think it's a marvelous moment in Maine," Wallace Nutting, a retired brigadier general and mayor of Biddeford, said as he watched the parade from Monument Square. Nutting's military career included a tour in Korea and two tours in Vietnam "and I never saw anything like this," he said as he shouted to be heard over the frenzied crowd. "But I think it's marvelous - emotional and most appropriate."

Friday's parade wound down the half mile between High and Temple streets, culminating in a rally at Monument Square. The procession of organizations, marching bands, floats and military equipment lasted more than an hour.

People crowded against barricades the length of the parade. They were six-deep toward the end of the route, cheering loudly each time a military unit passed. At one point, onlookers chanted "Welcome home, welcome home." Organizers estimated the crowd at 30,000 people.

A Coast Guard helicopter, then two Army Black Hawk helicopters, flew overhead, followed later by a P-3 Orion roaring dramatically over the parade route.

Three truckloads of youngsters representing the children of military families also got a big cheer. A sign hung from the lead truck saying "Mission First, Family Always," and from the sides: "Military Kids are Heroes" and "I missed my daddy."

Vince Matthews, who serves with the Army reserves, reclined in his desert fatigues on a Monument Square park bench after walking the route.

"It was quite emotional," he said of the tribute. "It seemed like it came from the heart of all the people."

Matthews had walked the parade with his daughters Alice, 9, and Rachel, 6, sporting the Girl Scout and Brownie uniforms, respectively. He said they also made sacrifices while he was overseas.

"Me, I didn't worry about them so much. They worried about me all the time," he said.

Several high school marching bands participated, bellowing their best patriotic songs. The Lewiston High School Marching Band alternated between "America the Beautiful" and "God Bless the USA."

"It was great. Really exciting. There's so much support, it makes me proud," said Charles Webster, a navy electrician stationed in Brunswick. His wife, Beatrice, was impressed to see him march by.

"I was very proud of him and all he's done for us," she said while expressing her thanks for the throngs of well-wishers. "It's the biggest parade I've been to. "

Police said the crowd was well-behaved. "It was a huge crowd, but a huge good crowd," said Sgt. Gary Rogers.

The flashing sign atop the 14-story Time and Temperature Building was changed to reflect the occasion. It alternated between "58 degrees" and "Hero" and "USA."

The turnout of soldiers was better than expected. Members of the 133rd Engineer Battalion, the Maine Army National Guard unit that just returned from Iraq, predicted 30 to 60 of the unit's 500 members would participate. The final tally was closer to 200.

Some marched. Others rode atop the large earth-moving equipment that the unit used to build roads, schools and other community service projects during its year-long deployment in northern Iraq.

Many of those attending Friday's celebration were drawn by the presence of a half-dozen New England Patriots, team owner Robert Kraft and the Vince Lombardi trophy.

"I was a Pats fan when they were the Boston Patriots and didn't have a field to play on," Allaire said. He said having the salute to veterans just made it that much more special.

Tyler Viney, 9, a football clutched under one arm and a Patriots visor on his head, also came to see the world champions.

"I'm here to watch the Patriots," he declared. "I like the way they play defense."

He wasn't disappointed. All-pro defensive lineman Richard Seymour and his fellow linemen Jarvis Green and Ty Warren were aboard when the parade's final three fire engines passed. Joining them were offensive linemen Dan Koppen, Steve Neal and Lonie Paxton as well as soldiers who had served in Iraq, including some who received the Purple Heart for battlefield injuries.

After the parade, members of Maine's congressional delegation, the governor and leaders from each of the military branches gathered on a stage for what was at times a solemn observance of the sacrifice people make to join the armed forces.

Bill Nemitz, a columnist for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram who twice traveled to Iraq to cover the 133rd, read the names of 17 Maine soldiers who had died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while a bagpiper played a somber "Amazing Grace." People in the hushed crowd wiped away tears.

An effort to communicate live via satellite with three soldiers in Iraq had technical difficulties, resulting in no video, only audio.

Kraft, noting that many of the roughly 400 soldiers gathered in a cordoned-off area near the stage had missed a lot of football over the past few years, offered them a display that most teams can only envy. His players stepped forward on the stage holding aloft the three Super Bowl trophies the team has won in the past four years, receiving huge cheers from the crowd.

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