Phillip Gonzales believes the country should better support combat veterans who have risked their lives for their country.

“We need to recognize veterans, because people don’t really understand what a veteran goes through,” said Gonzales, a 70-year-old Tacoma resident who served as an Army Ranger in the Vietnam War. “What happens is a veteran goes through things when he’s in the military. (Then) 40, 45 years later, it will affect him.”

Gonzales, of the National Association for Black Veterans, was among hundreds of people with 150 organizations, both military- and community-based, who marched down Main Street in downtown Auburn for the city’s 60th annual Veterans Parade.

The parade is one of the nation’s largest celebrating Veterans Day, boasting more than 4,000 attendees in previous yea

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