Veterans' Day 2008 in Birmingham was a day to remember, honor and give thanks. Members of the Seth and Neva Carmichael Johnson family were honored to salute the veterans who have sacrificed so much to defend our freedoms and continue to do so to this day. Under a crystal blue Fall sky, the family rode in the Veterans’ Day Parade in a wagon drawn by a beautiful black Percheron mare, “Mary”, owned and driven by Joe Bullard and his Uncle Ottis Massey, both of Blountsville, AL, and proud veterans themselves. Mary, a giant of a draft horse standing 18 hands high and weighing in at 2000 pounds, was quite a site and drew many “ooohs” from the onlookers. The wagon was festooned with stars-and-bars bunting and displayed large banners on either side that announced, “The Johnsons, family members served in the Revolutionary War and all wars since. We salute our fellow veterans.”

Johnson Family members riding in the parade wagon were Wylie Pierson Johnson (our Uncle Wylie, U. S. Navy Veteran of World War II) and his daughter Melanie Fay Johnson, Judy Nora Johnson Davis (daughter of our Uncle Parley Philip Johnson, Sr.) and her husband Ronnie (Veteran of the U. S. Coast Guard), Orson Lucius “Pete” Johnson (U. S. Army Veteran of the Vietnam War) and wife Jean Williams Johnson and their granddaughter Natalie Celeste Johnson (daughter of David Hayes Johnson). See the photos.

Thank you very much, Judy and Ronnie, for coming up from DeFuniak Springs, FL and arranging to bring Mary and the wagon to Birmingham. It was a wonderful and memorable day in so many ways!

See photos of the parade here.