Modesto veterans discuss their time serving as they enjoy parade, Graceada ceremony

Manuel Melendez wore his “Dress Blues” Marine Corps uniform Sunday as he watched the Veterans Day parade from Graceada Park in Modesto. He said he wore the uniform as a sign of camaraderie with younger veterans of military service.

“I’m here to represent the older generation,“ said Melendez, 49, of Modesto. “I want to show them that we still look good, we just move a little slower.”

He and his family watched the parade move down Needham Street to the park. Onlookers lined the street, many of them waving small American flags and cheering on the military veterans in the parade.

Vintage vehicles, including hot rods and World War II-era military Jeeps, paraded down Needham with with red-white-and-blue banners. They were joined by the Johansen High School marching band, Modesto police officers on horseback and the Modesto Fire Department’s ladder truck.

Melendez said the holiday gives he and other veterans a chance to acknowledge each other and share in what he described as a brotherhood. He said just greeting a fellow veteran is like an instant friendship.

“That means so much for us,” Melendez said.

He served in the Marines from 1990 to 1994. He participated in a Operation Desert Shield in response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and Operation Desert Storm to expel Iraq from Kuwait.

Melendez said communicating with family was much tougher back then. He would have to wait in line for more than three hours to use a satellite phone for a five-minute call.

“We would have to wait six to seven weeks for letters from home to arrive,” Melendez said. “It’s a lot better now to communicate with all the new technology.”

David Camargo, 69, of Salida, also served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. He wasn’t deployed, even though he volunteered to join combat three times, he said. Instead, Camargo remained at Camp Pendleton before his service ended after three years.

In 1991, Camargo enlisted as a 42-year-old man in the Army National Guard. He said it was his second chance at a military career. At the age of 55, Camargo was deployed as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005 and 2006. He patrolled the streets of Baghdad, he said.

“I’m sure every veteran has their own war, their own combat,” Camargo said trying to describe his experience in Iraq. “Each war is different.”

Camargo said days like Sunday give him the chance to greet veterans who never got the warm welcome he received after returning from Iraq.

“My family was waiting for me at the airport,” Camargo said. “Everyone was waving an American flag welcoming me home, which is a good feeling.”

Peter Felicitas served in Vietnam with the Navy as an aviation electrician. He arrived in toward the end of the war, and doesn’t remember a warm welcome when he returned home.

“It seemed kind of strange,” said Felicitas, who served in the Navy from 1973 to 1980. “People weren’t happy with the war... we seemed kind of shunned.”

That’s why Felicitas never misses the Veterans Day parade. The 64-year-old Modestan said his three brothers served in the military. Their father — who wasn’t yet a U.S. citizen — served in World War II.

“He instilled in us the importance of serving your country,” Felicitas said while watching an orchestra play songs honoring the military.

Several groups set-up booths at Graceada, including the Veterans Foundation of Stanislaus County, the Marine Corps Toys For Tots, the American GI Forum and the American Legion Post 74 of Modesto, where Bob Huffman was Sunday.

Huffman participates in a veterans group that raises money for a variety of community efforts, including a program that helps Modesto Junior College nursing students with tuition.

Huffman served in the Navy from 1974 to 1980. He served as a cook on an amphibious landing ship during Operation Frequent Wind, the final phase of the evacuation of Americans and “at risk” Vietnamese in the fall of Saigon.

His ship remained about six miles offshore, welcoming evacuees as the North Vietnam Army took the then capital city of South Vietnam. Huffman said the ship had about 380 personnel. After the evacuees arrived, he said their were about 1,000 people on board.

“I was cooking for 24 hours for three days straight,” Huffman said.

He said Veterans Day gives him a chance to honor all those who served in the military. Huffman said recently learned — through ancestry.com — that his military lineage goes way back.

“I had a relative who served in the American Revolutionary War... and I had members of the family who fought on both sides of the Civil War,” Huffman said. “I come from a long line of veterans.”