BANGOR – Tim Martin stood behind his 7-year-old son, Jacob, as the color guard leading the Memorial Day parade approached Davenport Park.

“Put your heels together like this,” Martin, 35, of Bangor said as he demonstrated. “Now, put your hand over your heart to salute the flag.”

Jacob Martin did his best to imitate his father. His tiny hand pressed against his ribcage, the boy raised a small flag in his left hand and waved it wildly at the politicians and veterans, strangers and sisters as they marched past.

Tim and Mikala Martin waited Monday with their son at the end of the annual parade route.

The couple’s daughters, Jessica, 13, and Libby, 8, marched in the parade – the elder girl with the Bangor Middle School Band and the younger with Brownie Troop 664.

Even if their children had not been part of the event, they would have attended, said Mikala Martin, 34.

“We’re both vets,” Tim Martin said, “and think it’s important to show them the necessity of respect not just for the vets, but for their sacrifice.”

The family moved to Bangor last year. Before that, the Martins attended the Memorial Day parade in Winterport.

The couple met in the early 1990s when they were stationed at Fort Polk in Leesville, La., where they appeared together in a play called “Shrunken Heads.” He served from 1990 to 1997, while she enlisted in 1989 and was discharged five years later.

As Monday’s parade continued past the reviewing stand and the park at the corner of Main and Cedar streets, Jacob’s father hoisted the boy onto his shoulders so he could get a better look at the veterans marching by.

“They were in the same war as your grampa,” Tim Martin told his son as the World War II veterans walked past.

“Did they all fight, too?” Jacob asked, shouting over the noise of three Black Hawk helicopters flying overhead.

“Yes, all these people were in World War II,” his father answered.

Norman Duren, 67, of Glenburn leaned against a large shade tree near the monument to those who lost their lives on the battleship Maine in the Spanish-American War. Beside him stood his grandson Cameron, 9, of Exeter, who was spending the weekend with his grandfather.

“I wanted to share it with him,” the elder Duren said as he waited for the parade to reach the park. “It’s good for kids to see what it’s all about. It also give us something to do.”

Thousands in the Bangor area apparently agreed and filled the sidewalks of downtown Bangor for Memorial Day.

Hundreds of men and a handful of women who have served in wars over the past 65 years walked or rode in the parade. Bands from local schools joined the Bangor Band in playing patriotic songs and military hymns.

The hour-long parade, which began on Exchange Street, ended with a 30-minute ceremony at Davenport Park that included city officials and the governor.

“Maine has consistently had one of the highest enlistment rates per capita in the country,” Gov. John Baldacci said at a ceremony at the park after the parade. “The state also has the highest number of veterans per capita,” he said Monday.

“From the smallest town and the biggest cities they have gone to fight for their country,” Baldacci said. “Maine has not and will not forget the veterans who have made the ultimate sacrifice for us.”

Baldacci, who attended the parade as a boy growing up in Bangor and has participated in it since he began his political career on the City Council, said the turnout for this year’s event was the best he’d ever seen.

Mayor John Cashwell honored William Deering, 80, of Bangor, who for more than 30 years organized the Memorial Day parade. A retired colonel in the Maine Air National Guard who worked as a psychologist in Bangor for many years, Deering said he was turning over the responsibility for the event to the cadets in the Junior ROTC program at Bangor High School.

“After all,” he said, “they will always be 18.”

Memorial Day facts

Original name: Decoration Day

Official birthplace: Waterloo, N.Y.

First mentioned: 1867, when hymn “Kneel Where Our Loves Are Sleeping,” by Nella L. Sweet, was published.

First celebrated: May 30, 1898, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.

Officially named: 1966, when President Lyndon B. Johnson officially named the holiday Memorial Day and declared its official birthplace.

Declared holiday: 1971, when the National Holiday Act was passed, which set it as the last Monday in May.

Purpose: To honor men and women who died in defense of the United States.

Related holiday: Veterans Day, celebrated Nov. 11 to honor all veterans for their service.

Sources: www.usmemorialday.org and the History Channel Web site, www.historychannel.com.