Stuart Spotts, left, and Bob Marvin lower a flag for a local deceased veteran on Friday, Nov. 11 during a Veterans Day ceremony at the American Legion Post 326 in Lake Placid. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

LAKE PLACID — The sun broke through the clouds on Friday morning, Nov. 11, just as a Veterans Day parade ended at the American Legion Post 326 at the corner of Main and School streets, where a crowd of more than 100 people gathered to celebrate this village’s military veterans.

Lake Placid’s Veterans Day parade returned this year after a two-year pandemic-related pause. People once again gathered along the sides of Main Street to wave, clap and say “thank you” to the veterans marching past as the Lake Placid Middle-High School marching band followed behind and played patriotic classics like “America the Beautiful.” Local Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts led the parade down Main Street, which traveled from Brewster Park to the legion hall.

A total of five flags were lowered and six flags were raised in honor of local veterans Friday. Members of Lake Placid’s American Legion led flag-raising ceremonies around the village before the parade and final ceremony after the parade. At the legion hall, veterans Stuart Spotts and Bob Marvin lowered flags honoring Donald Whittemore, Bert Wood and Phil Thayer and raised flags for Forrest Walton, Ernie Hough and Andy Barney.

Walton enlisted in the U.S. Navy after graduating from Lake Placid High School and served in World War II. He was an avid outdoorsman, according to his obituary, and he fulfilled his dream of becoming a conductor and engineer on the Adirondack Scenic Railroad before his death in March.

Hough, who died in May, was a U.S. Marine Corps veteran. He was a three-sport athlete at Lake Placid Middle-High School, according to his obituary, and he later became the first ice hockey coach for North Country Community College and for the first girl’s youth hockey team in Lake Placid.

A crowd gathers on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022, for the annual Veterans Day ceremony at the American Legion Post 326 in Lake Placid. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

After graduating from Lake Placid High School, Barney joined the 2nd 105th Infantry of the New York Army National Guard, based in Saranac Lake. He went on to become a bus driver for the Lake Placid Central School District for 25 years before his retirement, according to his obituary, and he was a member of the Lake Placid Volunteer Fire Department for more than 31 years. He died in June 2021.

The Veterans Day ceremonies began at the Adirondack Community Church and World War I memorial, where vets lowered a flag honoring Dale Bath and raised a flag honoring Gary Sheffield. At Elderwood of Uihlein at Lake Placid, a flag was lowered honoring Peter Kremser and a flag was raised honoring Harry LaBrake. At the Lake Placid Health and Medical Fitness Center, a flag was raised honoring Bart Patnode.

Sheffield was a Vietnam veteran, serving in the U.S. Army Marine Corps and Air Force throughout his military career, according to his 2004 obituary. He also led a lengthy bobsled career, first sliding with world teams and earning silver and gold medals before becoming a bobsled coach himself. Sheffield coached bobsled for the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.

LaBrake enlisted in the National Guard in 1946 at the age of 17, and he earned corporal status before being honorably discharged in 1950. He worked in construction for most of his career, starting LaBrake Construction with his son Mike before retirement. LaBrake died in 2021.

Patnode served in the European theater of World War II as a medic in the U.S. Army. He worked as a carpenter and caretaker at “Camp High Wall” — the family camp of Judge Joseph Proskauer — for more than 50 years, according to his 2010 obituary. When the Whiteface Mountain Ski Center opened, Patnode and his father-in-law, Otto Schniebs, founded and operated the Otto Schniebs Ski Shop for more than 30 years.

Jon Thayer holds a flag honoring his father, Air Force veteran Phil Thayer, at Lake Placid’s American Legion Post 326 on Friday, Nov. 11. Legion veterans raised a flag in honor of Phil, who died in November 2021, on Memorial Day of this year. (News photo — Lauren Yates)

The flags lowered on Veterans Day were raised on Memorial Day this year, and the flags raised this year will be lowered on memorial Day.

The retired flags were folded and presented to next-of-kin.

Stuart Spotts, left, salutes a family man after giving him a flag for a deceased local veteran on Friday, Nov. 11 during the annual Veterans Day ceremony at the American Legion Post 326 in Lake Placid. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

Stuart Spotts, left, and Bob Marvin fold a flag for a local deceased veteran on Friday, Nov. 11 during a Veterans Day ceremony at the American Legion Post 326 in Lake Placid. (News photo — Lauren Yates)

Local Cub Scouts salute on Friday, Nov. 11 during the annual Veterans Day ceremony at the American Legion Post 326 in Lake Placid. (News photo — Lauren Yates)

One vacant table setting is always set up at the American Legion Post 326 in Lake Placid for the Veterans Day luncheon for United States POW and MIA soldiers. (News photo — Andy Flynn)