Hansen: War, peace and compromise on parade

At 92, Eleanor Henry has lived through enough wars, which is why she flinches every year when the Laguna Beach Patriots Day Parade marches downtown.

She doesn’t need to see military bands or the Daughters of the American Revolution to remind her of patriotism. Instead, on Saturday during the parade, she and others in the Laguna Beach Peace Vigil will be at Main Beach holding their own celebration.

Founded in 1968, the group says it’s the longest-running peace vigil in the United States.

“We’ve had all kinds of people come down,” she said. “They are very positive. We’ve had large groups, but we sure would like to have more.”

The peace group participated in the parade for a few years in an attempt to raise awareness. But they could not sustain it, Henry said. She also complained about parade officials wanting to “censor” the group’s signs.

“We couldn’t use the word ‘war,’” she said. “And we thought, what do patriots do? They protect their country against a war.”

Charlie Quilter, parade vice president, remembers it slightly differently.

“Because our bylaws prohibit entries of a political or religious nature — and always have — we asked them not to put in signs things that could be construed in a political nature,” he said, giving as an example “Impeach the president.”

Henry said the peace group appreciated the intent of the parade rules but argued they seemed a little unfair given the overwhelming military presence at the parade.

It was this unbalance, she said, that caused people to react positively when they saw her group in the parade in past years — essentially rooting for the underdog.

“We always had people cheer and clap when we came by in the parade,” she said. “That was something else. It was surprising. We’d be behind some junior Marines or something. It was heartening to see that — that people support us.”

Henry, a local resident since 1961, believes in the strength of the peace movement but acknowledges that it takes effort to keep it vital.

“We’ve had a lot of locals say, ‘Great, you do this every Saturday?’” she said. “They don’t even know. They will only come out if there is something big.”

While the group gets its share of honking from passing cars and high fives in support, it does not always elicit cheers.

“Some people you say ‘good morning,’ and they just keep their eyes straight ahead,” Henry said. “They won’t even say anything — not even acknowledge you.”

She remembers many encounters, but the ones she cherishes involve the military, like the time a group of Marines walked by during the last Iraq war.

“We would engage them in conversation, and then we’d say, ‘Good luck and come back safe.’ And they seemed to appreciate that.”

Similarly, it’s this type of human connection that Quilter says is central to the parade’s mission. He welcomes the peace vigil in the parade because it represents the best outcome of any military action.

“Everyone is for peace,” he said. “I’m speaking as a veteran of four different conflicts in the Marine Corp., from Vietnam to Iraq, and nobody wishes for peace more than someone who has served on the pointy end of the military.

“What are we if we’re not for peace? Peace should be the object of all of our efforts.”

Like it or not, war and peace are inextricably linked. A patriots parade is an acknowledgment of both.

On its website, lagunabeachparade.org, the parade committee explains its goals: to honor those in uniform but “also revere those who fought for our right to speak openly, to assemble without fear, to end slavery, to have a right to vote, for the right to personal privacy, and so many other privileges that we enjoy today in the ‘home of the free.’”

For Quilter, those are not just fancy words. They embody the truth of why we defend freedom and why we have a community parade.

“It’s to encourage love and respect for country and community,” he said. “How people cherish their country comes in various forms. In a diverse town like Laguna Beach, we’re going to have more than one kind.”

And on any given Saturday, you can see the variety of views on Main Beach, with Eleanor Henry peacefully leading the way.

DAVID HANSEN is a writer and Laguna Beach resident. He can be reached at [email protected].