POCATELLO — On a cold Saturday morning, thousands of people gathered along city streets to witness Pocatello’s first Veterans Day Parade in 80 years.

The parade featured a surprise homecoming of a young man in the Marines who exited a sports car to hug his grandfather, also a veteran.

Hundreds of veterans and others participated in the parade, creating what seemed like an endless procession of pickup trucks, classic sports cars, marching bands and military vehicles, including a tank on a route that started on South First Avenue, traveled east on East Center Street, turned south onto 15th Avenue and eventually made it to Idaho State University’s Reed Gym.

Richard Hollingsworth, an Army veteran of the Vietnam War and chairman of the committee that organized the parade, said making the parade a reality has been well worth it.

“I definitely think it was worth all the work that has been going into this parade to make it happen,” he said. “It’s been a lot of hours since June of this year to the present time to contact all the military branches, all the veterans we could make contact with, and all the veteran search organizations to see if they’d be a part of it and supportive of it.”

Hollingsworth said the effort to bring back Pocatello’s Veterans Day Parade after an eight decade absence began to take root over three years ago.

“It started in March of 2019 when a (military) member came up from Utah to transfer his membership to the Veterans of Foreign Wars,” said Hollingsworth. “At that meeting, he asked if we had a Veterans Day Parade in our area. We told him to our knowledge, we haven’t had one since I’ve been alive. So that’s what initiated (the parade).”

Hollingsworth said all of the community support the Veterans Day Parade received makes him want to make the event into an annual Pocatello tradition.

“The committee, the mayor of Pocatello, and the mayor of Chubbuck have been very supportive to make this parade happen,” he said. “I’m proud. There are a lot of veterans that I’ve spoken to that are just excited to get recognition. They’re excited to get to be a part of this Veterans Day Parade, not only because they’re a veteran, but also because they’re showing recognition and respect to other veterans that served before them and that are currently serving.”