Saturday, July 5, 2008

The 5th

Red, White and “Blues” was the theme of this years’ Independence Day festival at the Brussels American School put on by the US Army Garrison and Tri-Mission Brussels.


This year we were invited by two different groups, one group was more on the ball and I got a schedule of the days events. We headed there just in time to see the parade of WWII vehicles with Belgians dressed up in vintage army uniforms and even a couple of WWII veterans. This how ever didn’t go over well with the impatient people waiting in the cars trying to get places as the convoy came down the street. The photos of this event and others were accidentally deleted or I would have included them.


After showing our passports and stating we were “on the list” we were inside the barbed wire gates of the school yard. First stop the ticket booth to exchange dollars for tickets. Then we had our food and beverages while listening to the opening ceremonies. They consisted of presentation of colors, the national anthem (played by 2 cute old men on the bugles) and the speakers. (The ambassador and BG Robert Yates, Deputy US Military)



After the formalities the band “John Frick and the Blues Hombres” played. I’m not sure if I just haven’t seen a band in so long or if they were actually good but I was singing along. The ambassador’s wife didn’t approve of the band and was walking around with her fingers in her ears.


It was a fun afternoon even if the normal down pouring of rain was present; it was great to be a part of a 4th of July celebration.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jill, I love your entries. I absolutely could see the impatient drivers, the old veterans. and best of all the prissy ambassador's wife. She had probably hoped for a Paris posting, poor thing.

Barbed wire around the school, eh? What a sad comment on the times we live in.

Jill, Foxy and Ana said...

I'm glad you love the posts-it's nice to know that people read them after you put alot of time in to creating them.

I think what put the drivers over the edge was to see the American flags on the trucks.