At age 101, Don Gallupe is still in the Bangor-Brewer Veterans Day Parade.
He is the last surviving World War II veteran in the area to be in the parade, something he’s done since around the first year it started. The Bangor native was a gunner for Army Air Corps, the precursor to the U.S. Air Force.
“It was a great honor,” Gallupe said.
Getting together with veterans from wars across decades and seeing friends is one of his favorite parts of the parade. While he was the lone WWII veteran in the parade on Tuesday, it was still good to see other people, Gallupe said.
Six surviving WWII veterans participated in the parade in 2022. There are roughly 45,000 WWII veterans still alive across the United States, only a small fraction of the 16 million who served, according to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.
Thousands of people turned out to watch the parade Tuesday morning. Kids waved American flags and held signs thanking veterans for their service.
Gallupe was part of Bangor High School’s ROTC program before he was drafted, which he said helped him prepare for his service. Junior ROTC programs for multiple high schools, including Bangor, Brewer, Hermon and Nokomis, marched in the parade.
It was the first Veterans Day Parade for Gerald Bartlette, a 90-year-old Navy veteran who lives in Newburgh. He spent 20 years on aircraft carriers and battleships before retiring in 1972. The parade allowed him to wear a never-worn dress uniform — that he bought 30 years ago.
All branches of the military were represented in the parade. U.S. Marine Corps veterans walked alongside a cherry red 1966 Ford F-100 renovated to honor the corps. Community organizations included the Cole Land Transportation Museum, which rang the Freedom Bell, which has led veterans in the Veterans, Memorial Day and Independence Day parades in Bangor for the past 27 years.
When World War II ended in 1945, bells rang out in every town and city across the country.
