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PRIME TIME
November 2016
Plenty of Ways to Celebrate Veterans in 2016
By Martin Frentzel
constructed to those who served in
Vietnam.
“That’s a beautiful place,”
Ulibarri says. “It’s a biggie for
Vietnam veterans.” The ceremony
there starts at 11 a.m.
This year, Ulibarri will not be at
Angel Fire but will be attending
ceremonies in Albuquerque at the
New Mexico Veterans Memorial
at Louisiana and Gibson SE. The
parade starts at 9 a.m. and the
ceremony is scheduled for 11 a.m.
The guest speaker will be Brig.
Gen. Judy Griego, now retired
from the New Mexico National
Guard.
Richard Winn of Albuquerque
did two tours of duty in Vietnam
after enlisting in the Navy. “I had
never seen the ocean and I had
never been east of Oklahoma
when I enlisted,” Winn says of that
July day in 1965 when he told the
recruiters he wanted to see the East
Coast.
“The recruiters guaranteed me I
would see the East Coast,” he says,
“and they didn’t lie to me, but they
didn’t send me there right away,
either.”
First he saw the east coast of
Vietnam as part of the River Patrol
Force, small four-man boats that
V
eterans Day ceremonies
are being held across New
Mexico this year from
Crownpoint to Carlsbad. The list
of events scheduled for November
11 includes breakfasts, luncheons,
parades and poppy drives, and they
are all important to the members of
the country’s armed forces – both
those currently serving and those
long discharged.
“This is a celebration of their
service,” says Ray Seva, public
information officer for the New
Mexico Department of Veterans
Services. “This is the biggest day
dedicated to veterans.”
Talk to enough veterans and you
will probably find that most of
them are still serving their country
and their fellow soldiers years or
even decades after their official
service ended.
A BIG DEAL
For Army Sgt. Bob Ulibarri,
Veterans Day “is a big deal.”
“I was part of the honor guard at
Angel Fire for 26 years,” says the
Vietnam veteran. Angel Fire, in
the Moreno Valley, is home to the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial State
Park, the nation’s first memorial
201
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checked junks for enemies. After
that first tour he came back to the
states and, like many veterans of
that era, he faced an American
public that wasn’t appreciative of
the war or the soldiers in it.
“When I came back I was
treated kind of poorly,” he says.
“I was called a bunch of names,
and I realized that if I stayed here
I would probably go to jail for
fighting back, so I went back to
Vietnam.”
His second tour was as a
boilerman on a minesweeper
clearing the waterways of the
Mekong Delta. He returned to the
United States and was finally sent
to the East Coast – Newport News,
Va. – where he participated in the
shakedown cruise of the U.S.S.
John F. Kennedy.
“I did such a good job they let
me stay an extra six months,” Winn
says. “But if I had it to do over
again, I would probably do the
same thing.”
For Winn, veterans are like
family, a brotherhood, and
attending the Veterans Day
celebrations “are a way of honoring
that brotherhood and showing
respect for what they have done.”
CELEBRATIONS
The following list of Veterans
Day celebrations was prepared by
the New Mexico Department of
Veterans Services and may not be
complete. For an updated listing,
visit www.nmdvs.org/.
Nov. 5
Roswell – 9:30 a.m. parade at
Chaves County Courthouse on
Main Street
Nov. 10
Tijeras – 11 a.m. ceremony at
Tijeras Senior Center
Nov. 11
Albuquerque – 9 a.m. parade at
New Mexico Veterans Memorial,
Louisiana and Gibson
10 a.m. musical prelude at N.M.
Veterans Memorial, Louisiana
and Gibson
10 a.m. continental breakfast at
NM Veterans Integration Center,
13032 Central SE
11 a.m. ceremony at New
Mexico Veterans Memorial,
Louisiana and Gibson
noon ceremony at Sandia
National Labs
2 p.m. ceremony at Woodmark at
Uptown (Senior Living Center)
Angel Fire – 11 a.m. ceremony at
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
State Park
Carlsbad – 9 a.m. parade at
Veterans Memorial Park
Clovis – 7 a.m. breakfast at
American Legion Post 25
9 a.m. breakfast at Baxter Senior
Center
10 a.m. Veterans Fair, Clovis
Community College
Crownpoint – 10 a.m. parade
and ceremony at Navajo
Technical University
Fort Bayard – 11 a.m. ceremony
at the national cemetery
1:30 p.m. Fort Bayard Bridge
dedication, Hudson and N.M. 90
Hobbs – 10 a.m. parade at Turner
& Taylor streets
11 a.m. ceremony at VFW Post
3274
1 p.m. veterans awareness
ceremony at Hobbs Teen Center
Las Cruces – 11 a.m. parade
Downtown/Main & Amador
Los Alamos – 11 a.m. luncheon
at American Legion Post 90
Los Lunas – 9 a.m. ceremony at
Los Lunas High School
11 a.m. ceremony at Daniel
Fernandez Park
Lovington – 9 a.m. Lovington
High School
Rio Rancho – 8 a.m. poppy drive
at Walmart, 76 Unser Blvd.
Roswell – 7:30 a.m. B.R.A.V.E.
5k run at Downtown/4th and
Main
Santa Fe – 10:30 a.m. Fire
Station No. 1, Murales Road
11 a.m. ceremony at Santa Fe
Veterans Memorial
Santa Rosa – 11 a.m. ceremony
at Blue Hole Center
Thoreau – 11 a.m. ceremony
Thoreau Chapter House
Truth or Consequences – 10 a.m.
ceremony at State Veterans
Home
Tularosa – 11 a.m. ceremony at
Veterans
Memorial Park
Nov. 12
Alamogordo – 10 a.m. parade
Downtown/10th St.
Farmington – 8 a.m. breakfast at
VFW Post 614
10 a.m. parade at VFW Post 614