GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A celebration in Grand Rapids is remembering the service and sacrifice of the Greatest Generation 80 years after the end of the World War II.
The weeklong celebration began with the Honor Parade Monday morning, which wove its way through downtown from Calder Plaza and across the river to the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum. The parade included vintage vehicles, a vintage aircraft from the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, walkers carrying signs showcasing members of the Greatest Generation and marching bands.
The grand marshals were 101-year-old Maxine Boeve and 99-year-old Eugene Khorey. Boeve was a “Rosie the Riveter” at a U.S. Navy Shipyard in Washington state during World War II. Khorey was a U.S. Army infantryman who served in Germany and the Pacific theater during the war.
“It was a surprise to me (to be named grand marshal) to begin with, but I’m getting used to the idea now,” Boeve told News 8. “But now, the time has come when most of us are gone and I’m 101 already, so I expect to be gone not too far from now.”…