For some people in Fort Worth, the weather could not keep them away from celebrating the Tarrant County Veterans Day Parade.
"We started several years ago,” parade watcher Jennifer Longway said. “I thought that my dad was in the Marine Corps and I decided that Veterans Day is the day we need to commemorate. I started bringing my kids every year and we've come every year since."
Longway even has a current connection to the armed forces that makes this day even more special.
"Now my oldest daughter is in the Navy and about to be a pilot," Longway said.
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It's those strong family ties that brought Mack Daniel to the parade route. His son is Maj. Gen. Anthony Woods, Commander of the Texas State Guard and ceremonial marshal of this year’s parade.
"I'm proud of him,” Mack Daniel said about his son. “He has been in there for 20-something years."
This day takes on a deeper meaning for those who are being honored.
"Being a veteran is very important,” Vietnam veteran Ken Wood said. “I'd do it again if our country needed it. Proud to be here."
To see people brave the weather to celebrate veterans like him is overwhelming.
"It just makes me want to cry nearly,” Wood said. “That's all I can say. I'm just real proud to be a veteran."
Families like Longway are going to make sure the younger generations, like her granddaughter, know why this day matters.
"I just want her to learn that anybody who is out there fighting for our country to keep us safe and independent as a nation that they are heroes,” Longway said. Those that fight for our country."
The theme of the Tarrant County Veterans Day Parade this year was “Saluting Buffalo Soldiers.” To learn more about Buffalo Soldiers click here.
