Mystic — Longtime Veterans of Foreign Wars member Virgil W. Huntley celebrated his 100th birthday a few months early on Monday.

Though his birthday isn't until August, the Hugo A. Simonelli VFW Post 3263 wanted to honor Huntley, its first quartermaster, by having him ride in the lead car, a white Toyota Solara convertible, with a banner announcing his 100th birthday on the side, in its Memorial Day parade.

A World War II veteran, Huntley, of Mystic, served in the Army from 1941-45.

People were sprinkled throughout the foggy, nearly mile-and-a-half parade course along Route 1, with the largest crowd gathering around the Mystic drawbridge.

That was the best spot for taking photos, Robert Antonelos said, clutching his camera. He and Elpida Tzilianos, parade first-timers, came from Weston to watch. Tzilianos recently moved from Astoria, N.Y., so the parade provided a good welcome to Connecticut.

Jacqueline Nichols-Holden and her daughter-in-law Elizabeth Nichols arrived early to secure a spot at the end of the route, in front of the VFW.

Both women's husbands serve in the Connecticut Army National Guard and were marching in the parade. The men, who are father and son, are part of the same National Guard Unit, the 1109th Theatre Aviation Sustainment Maintenance Group based at the Groton-New London Airport.

Residents of Apple Rehab, which is located along the route, could be seen in the windows, sitting in their wheelchairs and watching the parade.

Boyce Kline and wife Anna Reiners, both of Ledyard, try to make it to the parade every year.

"A lot of people forget what this day is about," Kline, a veteran of the submarine force, said.

While Veterans Day is a day to honor all veterans, Memorial Day is a day to honor those who died serving the country, several remarked during a brief memorial service at the VFW after the parade.

Stonington First Selectman Rob Simmons explained the holiday dated back to the Civil War and was originally called Decoration Day. After the Civil War, women whose loved ones had died gathered in Gettysburg, Pa., to decorate their graves.

"The widows were not separated by the conflict whether they were from the Union or the Confederacy," Simmons, an Army veteran, said. "They were joined in grief over their fallen husbands, brothers and sons. So for me, Memorial Day is a time put our differences aside, to remember those who served us in uniform from the Revolutionary War to the present."

Retired Air Force Technical Sgt. Craig Floyd, the parade marshal, said it was an honor to march with the nearly 100-year-old Huntley, and others.

"It has been many years since most of us have marched but we haven't forgotten," Floyd said.

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Isaiah Perkins and Roxy Hutchinson brought their 1-year-old son Braylen to the parade. The couple grew up in Mystic and have attended the parade for many years.

Perkins indicated Braylen will likely follow in his parents' footsteps, saying it was his "first of many years" at the parade.

j.bergman@theday.com