LIMON (FUHS 1966), SAMBRANO (FUHS 1967), GALLO, (FUHS 1968)

PAUL LIMON (FUHS 1966), ALBERT SAMBRANO (FUHS 1967), FORTINO GALLO, (FUHS 1968)

Published: Nov. 8, 2012 12:00 a.m.

A short walk for long memories

Lou Ponsi Register Writer

FULLERTON A group of old high-school buddies – all Vietnam combat veterans – will continue a tradition Monday when they participate in this city's annual Veterans Day parade.

The men will don caps and vests embroidered with “Vietnam Veteran.”

At least one will squeeze into his old jungle fatigues: “It won't button anymore, but I can still get it on,” said Fullerton's Paul Limon.

They'll gather in the morning at the Downtown Plaza with other veterans. Air Combat USA planes will fly over. In the 25th annual parade, the Fullerton Union High School band, representing the alma mater of many in Limon's group, will march right behind toward Hillcrest Park along a Harbor Boulevard lined with hundreds of flag-wavers.

Walking side by side, these old pals will trek, for about the sixth straight year, the half-mile.

Wreaths will be placed at the park's veterans memorials. Taps will be played.

“It's kind of neat for us, because it is for Veterans Day but also turns out to be a small high school reunion,” said Limon, 64, a 1966 Fullerton High graduate who served in 1968-69 in the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade, an infantry unit deployed to Vietnam.

“We all came back. … We are proud to have served,” said Limon, who helped organize the group.

As many as a dozen former pals have shown up ever since. Some have known each other since Maple Elementary School.

“We all grew up together,” said Fortino Gallo, 62, of Santa Ana, who served in Vietnam in 1969-70, in the Army's 1st Field Force, which provided support to infantry units. “Our families knew each other.”

Gallo, a 1968 Fullerton High graduate who is now a retired Santa Ana police officer, joined his buddies in the parade about three years ago. “For us, it is a get-together and a way to thank each other for the service we provided,” he said.

For these vets, Fullerton's Veterans Day festivities also serve as substitutes for the welcome home they never received.