Thousands of people gathered along Fifth Avenue for the 90th annual Veterans Day Parade. The Daily News reports it was the largest turnout for the parade in years; a 64-year-old Vietnam vet from Queens said, "I'm sure it means a lot to the troops to see this turnout. I think people are finally realizing they have an obligation to come out and support the troops."
At the ceremony, the special guests were Navajo Code Talkers—the young Native American men who, during World War II, used their language to help craft a code that the Japanese were unable to break. Keith Little, 85, said, "War although it wasn't good, brought out many unsung people who have contributed to this nation... Although we have been abused in many ways, we still went out and were first on the front lines." The Christian Science Monitor notes, "For more than 20 years after they helped the allies win World War II, the code - considered an invaluable military asset - was classified. The code talkers were not formally honored by the US government until 2001, nearly 60 years after the code's creation, when they were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal." The Code Talkers are now working on building a museum, so their story can be told to later generations.
