Letter: Still marching to inaugural memories

Your article about The Citadel cadets marching in the inaugural parade brought back memories of my march in that parade for John F. Kennedy in 1961. I was a first-year cadet at the Air Force Academy and the entire Wing of Cadets was to have flown from Colorado Springs to Washington for the parade. Due to a snow storm in the Washington area the day before, only half made the trip.

We slept on buses that night, stranded in traffic, and arrived at a military facility at 5 a.m. We immediately showered and changed into heavy overcoats, wool uniforms and rubber overshoes.

The overshoes, necessitated by wet slush, became the nemesis of many. If someone behind you stepped on the back of your overshoe while marching in ranks you could not stop to pull it back on — you continued marching with it half on and half off. As we passed the reviewing stand at least half of us were marching along with flopping overshoes.

At the presidential reviewing stand we did an “eyes right,” where the new president and his wife were standing. Jackie Kennedy was the focus of everyone’s attention, standing there in an ivory-colored coat and hat; she was stunning. There were whispers about her appearance and the constant “plop-plop” of overshoes as we marched by.

Anyone viewing the parade only saw precision lines of blue marching by with no idea of the drama going on within the ranks. I hope The Citadel cadets have more pleasant memories.

This story was originally published January 20, 2017 at 1:12 PM with the headline "Letter: Still marching to inaugural memories."