133rd Corps at American Royal Parade

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Saturday morning, on the 29^th of September in accordance with the annual Kansas City American Royal Parade, Wentworth Military Academy cadets and officials arrived to Kansas City, MO to march amid much fanfare. The one-hour event marked the 86^th year in a row that the American Royal Parade event took place in Kansas City, and what a festive event it was. The sky was bright and clear, almost reminiscent of spring weather. There was bright-colored confetti that lined the ground everywhere we turned.                                                                                                                                                                             Earlier that morning, during breakfast in the mess hall, 1^st Sergeant Willis stated in his speech, that if we were to do well in the march, we would get to checkout for the weekend.  Naturally, of course he did not have to tell us twice. Three buses and a van packed all of us on the 1 hour trip to Kansas City. When we arrived there at around 8: 17 we stood around anxiously looking around at the sites until it was our time to march. There were Boy Scouts of America getting ready to march as well as Native Americans dressed in traditional gear waiting like we were.                                                               
We moved a good three blocks forward before formally marching down Kansas City’s famed Grand Boulevard. There were civilians on both sides of the streets cheering us on, thanking us and waving miniature flags. The incredibly cheery atmosphere provided us with a motive to keep marching on for the entire 1.25 miles. There was a brief break during which the Parade disc jockey announced WMA cadets were taken place in the parade, and after a prayer stated that, “There are 1,000 men and women out here who are serving our nation …they are us."When we were finally able to end the march, everyone seemed relieved that we pulled it off without a hitch and most importantly, we could checkout for the weekend. The experience of marching down a main street in a huge city like Kansas City in uniform was definitely worth every step. When asked of what did he liked most about the parade, Cadet Moreland responded, “I liked it. I felt I was representing something bigger than me.”
Written by Cadet HaglerPhotos by Cadet Ariel Gordon