Spectators watch Santa Barbara’s Veterans Day Parade from a vantage point near the Dolphin Statue at the base of Stearns Wharf. 
Vietnam War veterans march down State Street. 
The Veterans Day Parade is organized by the Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation and the Santa Barbara Veterans Foundation. 
Santa Barbara’s annual Veterans Day Parade marched down State Street from Sola Street to Cabrillo Boulevard. 
The Civil Air Patrol Squadron 131 was among the parade participants.
Veterans from all branches of the military participated in Saturday’s Veterans Day Parade in Santa Barbara.
With a crowd of spectators and curious onlookers lining the route, the annual parade got underway at State and Sola streets, traveled through downtown to Cabrillo Boulevard, and then headed over to the Carriage and Western Art Museum at Pershing Park.
The Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation and the Santa Barbara Veterans Foundation organized the parade and a full weekend of activities, including the sixth annual Salute to the Vets at the Carriage and Western Art Museum.
The parade featured a variety of entrants, including the Civil Air Patrol Squadron 131, an Army helicopter from World War II, and an organized Vietnam War veterans organization.
Among those watching the show was Kevin McLernon, who served in the Navy from 1971 to 1975.
He moved to Santa Barbara three years ago to be closer to an adult son who lives locally.
McLernon watched the parade with his wife and grandson along West Cabrillo Boulevard and said Veterans Day serves as a reminder of those who served and defended the country.
“You have to think about what all the men and women did,” he said. “It’s an honor to serve.”
McLernon comes from a military family and was stationed in Philadelphia during the Vietnam War. As a hospital corpsman, he treated some of the first groups of prisoners of war for “busted legs and arms.”
He said it is important for people to show gratitude to veterans — something that didn’t happen to many of the Vietnam veterans who were shunned when they returned home after the war.
“When you see a vet and say ‘thank you for your service,’ their eyes light up,” McLernon aid.
Dedicated to veterans of all wars, Veterans Day was first commemorated on Sunday, Nov. 11, 1918 — “at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” when the Allied nations and Germany agreed to an armistice during World War I.
As Veterans Day falls on Sunday, the federal holiday will be observed Monday. Most government offices, the U.S. Postal Service and local public schools are closed.
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.