SUN PHOTO BY BETSY WILLIAMS
Sitting and occasionally rising from her wheelchair, Pam Kiely Catalano waves to each and every Army truck and jeep that passes along the Veterans Appreciation Parade route Saturday in Punta Gorda. Her husband Tom is a Vietnam veteran.

SUN PHOTO BY BETSY WILLIAMS
Members of the Patriot Riders stop mid-parade to let Dan Nguyen, 10, gather up candy thrown by the float in front of them.

SUN PHOTO BY BETSY WILLIAMS
The 2012 Elks Veterans Appreciation Parade grand marshals were the Jones family: Kendra, Stacy and Bill.

SUN PHOTO BY BETSY WILLIAMS
Girl Scout Troop 494, one of the many GSA troops that marched in the parade.

SUN PHOTO BY BETSY WILLIAMS
With a flag in her hair, one in her hand and her other hand filled with those she was helping to pass out, Hailey Hackworth, 6, took to the parade route with her Daisy Troop 90.

SUN PHOTO BY BETSY WILLIAMS
Flags waving in the wind, members of the Vietnam Veterans of America, Gulf Coast Chapter 1037 march along Taylor Street in this year’s Veterans Appreciation Parade, sponsored by Punta Gorda Elks Lodge 2606.

SUN PHOTO BY BETSY WILLIAMS
Deep Creek Elementary School was one of the Charlotte County schools that marched in the parade Saturday morning.

SUN PHOTO BY BETSY WILLIAMS
Sitting on the back of a pickup, Jermain Manning, 6, his sister Diamond, 7, and brother Jacorey, 3, joined their grandmother Glenda McHargue to watch the Veterans Appreciation Parade, in which their older sister, Angel Bounane, 9, was singing with the Sallie Jones Elementary School chorus, Saturday in Punta Gorda.