USCG, wedding proposal highlighted July 4 parade

The weather was hot but dry Saturday when the American Legion Fourth of July parade rolled through the flag-adorned streets of Bogalusa. There were lots of umbrellas evident on floats, tractors and all along the route, and many bore stars and stripes or at least red, white and blue. But they weren’t repelling rain. They were blocking sun.

Still, the crowds were good and the military veterans, enlisted men and women, a couple of LSU baseball champions, band, boats, helicopter and more made it a celebration to remember.

Of course, most people won’t recall it quite as fondly as Cherie Smith, who was the unsuspecting star of the start of the parade. When the Bogalusa Police Department escort car reached the street in front of Genco’s Amusement, just yards into the route, the officer inside stopped and called Cherie Smith out into the middle of the street. He had to do it twice. She thought she was just there to watch the parade.

Cherie was escorted out by her boyfriend, Bryan Genco, while the songs: “When You’re in Love with a Beautiful Woman” and then “When A Man Loves A Woman” played loud as a lead-in and subtle clue to what was about to transpire. Then somebody shouted, “Look up” as a plane flew over trailing a banner that read: “CHERIE WILL U MARRY ME BRYAN,” and parade co-Grand Marshall Captain James Montgomery, U.S. Coast Guard, presented her with a bouquet of flowers.

Smith’s knees went weak, she said later. She had to sit down on the bumper of the police car. Then Bryan got down on one knee and proposed. The stunned and tearful Smith said, “Yes.”

Then the smiling couple joyously cleared the path, and the parade was under way.

A big orange Coast Guard helicopter buzzed and darted in the sky above, while below, a Navy band played, color guards marched, and military veterans were cheered and saluted. Beauty queens, their cheeks pink with the heat; farmers on tractors, some with children in front of them at the wheel; horsemen and motor cyclists on their mounts and members of service organizations, gave glimpses of what was being celebrated — the United States of America.

“People have been calling and telling me it was the biggest and best parade since we’ve been having them,” the Legion’s Bobby Latino, organizer, said Tuesday.

He praised the committee that helped get it done, and he thanked everyone who took part and those who lined the streets of Bogalusa to watch the annual American Legion Fourth of July parade.