BANGOR – Watching veterans march proudly past him Monday, retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Peter T. Berry hoped they were getting their due.

“I wonder if young people really appreciate them. Or are they thinking, ‘Who are these people?'” said Berry, who sat atop the reviewing stand as marshal of Bangor’s Memorial Day parade.

He needn’t have worried. Among the hundreds of onlookers who lined the parade route Monday were a number of parents intent upon explaining the celebration to their children.

“People died to keep us free, so we could come and go as we please,” Lisa Manzo of Brewer said to her 6-year-old daughter, Emily, who held a up a colorful sign bearing the words, “We’re here to thank you.”

“She can holler, but not that loud,” said Manzo. “This way she can hold it up and they’ll be sure to see it, nice and bright.”

Belinda Brewer of Winterport also was determined to give her child a civics lesson. Carrying 31/2-year-old Teague down Main Street – both of them decked out in red, white and blue from head to toe – Brewer told the youngster the parade was “for people who fought and died for our freedom.”

Talking to children about those who served and made the ultimate sacrifice for our country is more important than ever in light of Sept. 11, said Brewer, who wore an FDNY cap in memory of the New York firefighters who were killed trying to rescue victims of the World Trade Center attack.

Spectators were in a patriotic mood Monday, clapping along to the music provided by area school bands and the Bangor Band, and cheering loudly as veterans and members of various military branches walked or rode by in buses.

Onlookers oohed and aahed as three Army National Guard helicopters flew overhead in a perfect V and a KC135 tanker from the Air National Guard zoomed by in a tribute to past and present soldiers.

Sporting T-shirts decorated with the American flag and patriotic sayings, Laura and Scott Reglin of Dixmont said they have been imbued with fresh American spirit since the New York terrorist attacks. Their clothing shows it.

Laura Reglin whose shirt read, “Fear No Evil, We Will Win,” has at least a dozen such garments, each one inscribed with a different accolade to America. She wears a different one every day.

Her husband, Scott, wore a shirt emblazoned with, “These Colors Don’t Run,” as well as a bandana with an American flag motif. The couple has bumper stickers with similar mottos, they said.

“Nine-11 made us think about things a little more,” said Laura Reglin. “We have to show support more now than ever.”

Relaxing in Davenport Park where the parade earlier had culminated with a memorial ceremony, Maj. Gen. Berry reflected on his thoughts as he gazed at the veterans from the reviewing stand.

He found himself imagining their personal stories and the “sacrifices they made for their country. They had individual experiences, they lost friends,” he said.

A native of Calais and now a resident of Roque Bluffs, Berry, 63, went to the University of Maine figuring he’d become a high school teacher and eventually a superintendent.

Instead he joined UM’s ROTC, got hooked on the military and moved up the ranks to become one of the few major generals who didn’t attend West Point.

Before retiring in 1995 he served in Vietnam and headed the Army Criminal Investigations Command, responsible for investigating felony crimes against the Army or committed by members of the military.

“I fell in love with the Army,” he said. “I loved the discipline, I loved what it did for people – it gave them [a sense of] teamwork, of cohesiveness. I saw what could be accomplished when everyone worked together.”

Patriotism has increased since Sept. 11, said Berry. “The American spirit has been up and down. It was challenged on September 11 and it’s come roaring back.”