joining us now for the interview is craig schneider, an organizer of the st. uis parade, to welcome home veterans of the iraq war. craig, congratulations and thanks for making time to talk to us, i'm sure this is a busy week for you right now. >> it is busy, thank you for having us, rachel, i'm a fan of your brain. >> i'll send it over to you, i haven't been using it recently. >> we'll take it, we're taking donations. >> you don't want that one. let me ask you about the basic start of this, how you got the idea to do it and once you got the idea, why you thought it was possible? >> we knew it was possible. we got the idea because no one else was doing it and someone could if they stepped up, we knew we could. my friend tom, we were notice the cardinals did it in short order, we can do it now. we love our heros from the baseball team, we have bigger heros coming home now, they deserve a parade, too, more than a parade, the veteran resource village thing. >> tell me about the veteran resource village, one of your partners is a resource center for veterans, their

joining us now for the interview is craig schneider, an organizer of the st. parade, to welcome home veterans of the iraq war. craig, congratulations and thanks for making time to talk to us, i'm sure this is a busy week for you right now. >> it is busy, thank you for having us, rachel, i'm a fan of your brain. >> i'll send it over to you, i haven't been using it recently. >> we'll take it, we're taking donations. >> you don't want that one. let me ask you about the basic start of this, how you got the idea to do it and once you got the idea, why you thought it was possible? >> we knew it was possible. we got the idea because no one else was doing it and someone could if they stepped up, we knew we could. my friend tom, we were notice the cardinals did it in short order, we can do it now. we love our heros from the baseball team, we have bigger heros coming home now, they deserve a parade, too, more than a parade, the veteran resource village thing. >> tell me about the veteran resource village, one of your partners is a resource center for veterans, their miss

louis, friends tom appelbaum and craig schneider disagreed. >> there was this like national conversationn the media about should we or shouldn't we have a parade for the iraq vets, and that was like the first thing, like, well, that's silly. of course they deserve a parade. >> that was less than a month ago. they started a facebook page and harnessed the power of social media. >> we didn't do this. we had an idea and we put up a call for help. as soon as we planted a flag, it wasn't -- at first the city rallied and then the country rallied. >> reporter: tens of thousands lined the main thoroughfare to cheer and salute several hundred troops from across the country. it had a home spun feel. from the crowd, heart felt thanks. >> i think you need to say thank you to the people protecting our country. >> i have to say i was not a war supporter, but i'm a troop supporter. >> reporter: service members were grateful too. >> it's something we'd like to see for everybody to remember the sacrifices. >> reporter: for those who lost loved ones it was a bittersweet day. edward forrest sr.'s son died

louis friends tom apple bon and craig schneider disash greed. >> like this national conversation in the media about should we or shouldn't we have a parade for the iraq vets? and that was like the first thing is like, well that's silly, of course they deserve a parade. >> reporter: that was less than a month ago. they started a facebook page and harnessed the power of social media. >> we didn't do there. we had an idea and we put up a call for help and as soon as we planted a flag, it wasn't -- at first the city rallied and then the country rallied. >> reporter: tens of thousands people lined downtown's main thoroughfare to cheer and sallude several hundreds of troops and vets across the country. the crowd heartfelt thanks. >> thank you. >> nothing more important than the people who protect our country. >> i have to say i'm not a war supporter but i'm a troop supporter. >> reporter: several members were grateful, too. >> something that we'd like to see for everybody just to remember the sacrifices. >> for those who lost loved ones it was a bittersweet day. >> i miss him. >> edward sr. s