Lake Placid’s Veterans Day parade returned this year after a two-year pandemic-related pause. People once again gathered along the sides of Main Street on Friday to wave, clap and say “thank you” to the veterans marching past as the Lake Placid Middle-High School band followed behind and played patriotic classics like “America the Beautiful.” Local girls scouts and boy scouts troops led the parade down Main Street, which traveled from Brewster Park to the Lake Placid American Legion Post 326.

A total of five flags were lowered and six flags were raised in honor of local veterans Friday. Members of Lake Placid’s American Legion led flag-raising ceremonies around the village before the Veterans Day parade and final ceremony at the legion on Main Street. At the legion, veterans Stuart Spotts and Bob Marvin lowered flags honoring Donald Whittemore, Bert Wood and Phil Thayer and raised flags for Forrest Walton, Ernie Hough and Andy Barney.

Walton enlisted in the U.S. Navy after graduating from Lake Placid High School and served in World War II. Walton was an avid outdoorsman, according to his obituary, and he fulfilled his dream of becoming a conductor and engineer on the Adirondack Scenic Railroad before his death in March.

Hough, who died in May, was a U.S. Marine Corps veteran. He was a three-sport athlete at Lake Placid Middle-High School, according to his obituary, and he later became the first ice hockey coach for North Country Community College and for the first girl’s youth hockey team in Lake Placid.

Jon Thayer holds a flag honoring his father, Air Force veteran Phil Thayer, at the Lake Placid American Legion Post 326 on Friday. Legion veterans raised a flag in honor of Phil, who died in November 2021, at the legion on Memorial Day of this year. The flag was lowered, folded and presented to Jon on Friday as part of the legion’s Veterans Day Ceremony. (Enterprise photo — Lauren Yates)

After graduating from Lake Placid High School, Barney joined the 2nd 105th Infantry of the New York Army National Guard, based in Saranac Lake. He went on to become a bus driver for the Lake Placid Central School District for 25 years before his retirement, according to his obituary, and he was a member of the Lake Placid Volunteer Fire Department for more than 31 years. He died in June 2021.

Friday’s ceremonies began at the Adirondack Community Church and World War I memorial, where vets lowered a flag honoring Dale Bath and raised a flag honoring Gary Sheffield. The legion then lowered a flag at Elderwood Lake Placid honoring Peter Kremser and raised a flag in honor of Harry LaBrake. Vets also raised a flag at Adirondack Health Lake Placid to honor Bart Patnode.

Sheffield was a Vietnam veteran, serving in the U.S. Army Marine Corps and Air Force throughout his military career, according to his 2004 obituary in the Enterprise. He also led a lengthy bobsled career, first sliding with world teams and earning silver and gold medals before becoming a bobsled coach himself. Sheffield coached bobsled for the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.

LaBrake enlisted in the National Guard in 1946 at the age of 17, and he earned corporal status before being honorably discharged in 1950. LaBrake worked in construction for most of his career, starting LaBrake Construction with his son Mike before retirement. LaBrake died in 2021.

Patnode served in the European theatre of World War II as a medic in the U.S. Army. He worked as a carpenter and caretaker at “Camp High Wall” — the family camp of Judge Joseph Proskauer — for more than 50 years, according to Patnode’s 2010 obituary. When the Whiteface Mountain Ski Center opened, Patnode and his father-in-law, Otto Schniebs, founded and operated the Otto Schniebs Ski Shop for more than 30 years.

Each of the flags lowered on Veterans Day Friday was raised on Memorial Day this year; the legion performs flag-lowering and raising ceremonies on both Memorial and Veterans days. The retired flags were folded and presented to next-of-kin.