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GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Thousands lined the streets of downtown Grand Rapids in a celebration worthy of the Greatest Generation.

80 years ago on Sept. 2, 1945, marked the official end of World War II.

On Monday, Sept. 1, a parade and Wings of Honor flyover commemorated those who’ve since passed, the living veterans, and the women who kept society running at home in downtown Grand Rapids.

“All these people that we’re honoring are in their 90s or even 100-years-old,” Joel Westphal, chairman of the celebration, said. “And so this is our one last chance to honor our greatest generation of Americans who went through the Great Depression and fought in the second world war.”

Westphal was initially apprehensive when they began planning given the Labor Day holiday, but he was pleasa

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