Memorial Day Parade 2015: Families & Flips, Bands & Brothers

Warwick, RI – Families lined Warwick Avenue and West Shore Road Monday morning to see a community-spanning collection of visual and musical treats in the city’s Memorial Day Parade.

Chuck and Jake Holm waited on Oakland Beach Avenue alongside the American Legion Shields Post 43’s recently restored vintage “40 & 8″ truck, waiting to bring up the rear of the parade.

Chuck found the replica “40 & 8″ truck, named because it could carry 40 horses and 8 men in Paris in World War I in Paris, on a farm in Coventry. The truck had once belonged to American Legion Post 2 in West Warwick, but had fallen into disrepair.

“We didn’t want to see it go to the grave yard,” Jake said, so the Legion raised about $5,000 to restore it. They finished the job in time for this year’s parade, he said.

Across the street, in the back lot of Bishop Hendricken School, the balance of the parade divisions waited.

Taking point were the Warwick Police Color Guard, and Christine A. Kelley, the first woman promoted to Major in the Warwick Police Department, named Grand Marshal for the parade.

Following between the WPD and the Legion were a wide array of Boy Scout and Girl Scout Troops, high school bands, classic cars and a gigantic snow plow form T.F. Green Airport.

Families sat along Oakland Beach Avenue and West Shore Road, waving from lawn chairs, blankets and the backs of trucks as the parade marched and rolled past.  Children caught or scooped up candy thrown from the trucks, marvelled at the fire trucks and cars, and applauded as gymnasts flipped past.