Leading the march was Broker/Owner Colin Howgills’ 1929 Mercedes Gazelle, with Robert (Bob) Lohr, United States Marine Corps. (Ret.), and co-owner Pam Howgill aboard. Lohr took part in the fighting at Iwo Jima, Tarawa and Saipan, heroic icons of the war in the Pacific. Waving from a second open car was Kim Freeman, a World War II veteran of the United Kingdom Women’s Royal Air Force veteran. Also riding and walking beside the cars were veterans of the UK Royal Marines, UK Royal Navy, USMC, U.S. Navy, U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force, along with the mother of a U.S. Coast Guard veteran.

Weichert, Realtors®-SouthShore agents and staff, boasting over 100 years of service in the armed ­forces, paraded with prominent veterans in three cars and on foot, as part of the annual Ruskin ­Veterans Day Parade.  
This is the third year that the agency has sponsored and decorated cars for the event honoring servicemen and women. Brigadier Colin H. C. Howgill, Royal ­Marines (Ret.) said the “special day for agents to remember and salute those who serve and have served their country.” Howgill was Commander of British Forces in Vanuatu in the South Pacific when that country won its independence in 1980.
The Howgills spent several years in military and diplomatic service before settling in Florida and opening their Weichert® ­office in ­Apollo Beach. They can be reached for comment at (813) 649-1002.                        

© Copyright 2008 by The Observer News Publications and M&M Printing Company, Inc.

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