The Melbourne Fourth of July Parade was very well attended this year both in spectators and in participating groups.  We mustered a Color Guard, a decorated convertible with uniformed veterans and Mechanized Cavalry. Our unit received many whoops, waves, cheers, thank you’s and folks running out into the traffic lane to take photos. It is very nice to be able to say that this type of reception is NORMAL for us at parades. We did have one individual who was seen to give us a thumbs down gesture and the group member who observed this was polite and smiled instead of returning another well known and appropriate hand gesture. Despite the heat, or occasional heckler parades are a good time for us and an excellent way to display our colors to the public in a positive way. Many thanks to 12 th
 Brigade Cmdr. Wesley Frank, Jason Frank, Bob King, Seth, Larry Thornton, Cmdr. Atchison, and Miss June and Rick Still for turning out.