BANGOR – Nearly 200 Vietnam veterans gathered to march in the annual parade Monday, making the event the largest turnout of veterans ever to march in the Bangor-Brewer Veterans Day parade, according to World War II veteran Galen Cole of the Cole Land Transportation Museum.

The support for the veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam was palpable as the very young to the very old lined the parade route from Brewer to Bangor, applauding and holding posters expressing thanks.

From his seat in the back of a World War II jeep towing the bell representing the end of that war, 86-year-old veteran Raymond Perkins of Orrington waved to the crowd.

“It means a lot. It really does,” said Perkins, who spent four years with the 152nd Field Artillery assigned to the South Pacific.

In the driver’s seat was 85-year-old Ralph Goss of Glenburn, who served in Europe and the South Pacific during the war.

“I’ve driven this type of jeep all over this country, Europe and South Pacific,” Goss said as his great-grandson, 9-year-old Devin Goss, and his buddy 9-year-old Jeff Akerson of Camden squished together in the back seat to take turns ringing the symbolic bell.

The Rev. Robert Carlson gave the invocation followed by remarks from Gov. John Baldacci, who reviewed the dozens of parade units as they passed by on Main Street in Bangor.

Also on the reviewing stand was World War II veteran Charles Shay, recently returned from Washington, D.C., where he received France’s highest civil and military tribute, the Legion of Honor medal.

Shay, a member of the Penobscot Nation, lives on Indian Island. He served in World War II and the Korean War. He was in the first wave of soldiers to land in Normandy during the D-Day invasion. A past recipient of a Silver Star and two Bronze Stars for valor, Shay, 83, received the Legion of Honor medal last week from Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of France.

Missing from those on the downtown reviewing stand, however, was any representative for the city of Bangor. Mayor Richard Greene was on the agenda to give welcoming remarks, but was not there. There also were no city councilors on the stand.

Contacted at home Monday afternoon, newly re-elected councilor Susan Hawes said she had e-mailed fellow councilors last week to see if anyone was interested in marching in the parade.

“I did not receive any response,” said Hawes, who said she chose instead to go to Bangor International Airport to greet a flight of returning troops.

Other councilors contacted said they either had conflicts or had not received any information indicating they should attend Veterans Day activities.

Messages left for Greene were not immediately returned Monday.

On Memorial Day, Maine Vietnam veterans received Maine-made maple walking sticks from the Cole Land Transportation Museum and Peavey Manufacturing. The walking stick program began several years ago with World War II and Korean veterans receiving the complimentary sticks in recognition of their war service.

For years, however, many Vietnam veterans have shied away from parades. That changed last May when 600 of them turned out to march with their new sticks.

Cole was visibly pleased Monday when about 200 Vietnam veterans lined up under the direction of Barry Bennett of Old Town to participate.

“We always get a better turnout during the Memorial Day or Fourth of July parade, but this is by far the largest turnout of veterans the city has seen for a Veterans Day parade,” he said.

John Anderson of Hermon perhaps best represented the dedication veterans feel toward the Veterans Day parade.

Anderson, 70, is the commander of the local Korean War Veterans Association. Monday morning, he stood with his walking stick in the parking lot of the Brewer Shopping Plaza waiting for his fellow veterans to arrive.

“I come every year and I would have been here even if I’d had to crawl,” he said.

In September, Anderson was diagnosed with colon cancer. He underwent successful surgery at the Togus medical center but one hour after returning home a blood clot formed and became lodged in his heart and lungs. He spent the next two weeks in the intensive care unit at Eastern Maine Medical Center and was just released two weeks ago.

As the World War II jeep proceeded along the route, dozens of people familiar with Goss and Perkins called out their names.

“I’m here,” Perkins yelled back. “I’m here and this sun is a blessing.”

Seventy-five veterans marched Monday along with the 45 Korean War veterans and 200 Vietnam War veterans. About 100 more rode on donated school buses, and five high school bands participated.