Soggy Veteran's Day Parade Dampens Patriotic Spirit

The silent majority was rained out yesterday. A Veteran's Day parade through downtown Boston attracted only 11.000 marchers, many of whom represented the military, the National Guard, reserve units, veteran's organizations and their auxiliaries.

Parade organizers expected 125,000 onlookers, but a steady rain cut this to about 25,000.

Governor Francis J. Sargent, who last month addressed a Moratorium Day crowd, opened the day's observation by signing the Veterans' Day proclamation, and telling 300 observers, "It is the hope of all of us that there may be light at the end of that dark tunnel."

The 26th Infantry (Yankee) Division Band of the Massachusetts National Guard played patriotic hymns through out the ceremony, beginning with "Americans We March," and finishing with "America the Beautiful."

Rain forced the cancellation of parades in Malden, Quincy, Wellesley, Lexington, and Arlington.

Elsewhere, one hundred and fifty antiwar protestors were denied permission yesterday to enter Ft. Devens and stage a "Veteran's Day" demonstration of their own. The Student Mobilization Committee planned to leaflet the base, but military police refused to let them enter.