Current and former members of the military, Junior ROTC cadets, and pro-veteran groups filled Delaware Avenue with the sounds of marching bands and cadence calls in this year's Veterans Day Parade in the City of Buffalo. While the annual parade honors all veterans for their military service, this year's parade highlighted one in particular.
Captain Sydney Cole was one of the parade's two grand marshals. Cole was serving as a Chief Forward Aerial Observer for the 776th Field Artillery Battalion in World War II when his plane was shot down behind enemy lines.
Cole sustained injuries during the crash, was captured, and assigned to a German prisoner of war camp run by the Hitler Youth.
Along with his fellow prisoners, Cole suffered while in captivity, but managed to endure until the camp was abandoned and later liberated by the Russian Military.
Cole is 101 years old.