RALEIGH - James Crouse relaxed in a folding chair, sipping a cup of Starbucks coffee, for most of Saturday morning's "Salute to Our Troops" parade downtown. But the retired Army helicopter pilot snapped to attention and saluted smartly when two Medal of Honor winners rode by on floats.

"When you read what these guys have done to win that honor, it is almost superhuman," Crouse said later, his voice choking with emotion. "They actually define the word hero."

Crouse, 58, watched the parade with his 3-year-old son, Joshua. "I have an appreciation for the military, being a retired military pilot, and I want that same appreciation ... in my son," Crouse said.

That's the kind of reaction the event's organizers were hoping for when they created what aimed to be the largest military appreciation day the state has ever seen.

The event was conceived in a meeting at Fort Bragg where representatives of the state bankers association inquired about helping families who had lost a soldier in combat and broached the idea of a celebration. It snowballed from there, with the different service branches taking steps to ensure they wouldn't be outdone by the other.

Saturday's event started off with a roar, as a quartet of F-15E Strike Eagle jets from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base flew over the 1.5-mile parade route, which was packed with spectators.

"I think flyovers are the most wonderful thing," said onlooker Kathi Deturk, a Raleigh homemaker, shortly before the parade began. "The feeling you get is incredible ... something going by so fast."

The parade had a wide-ranging display of manpower and firepower, including marching infantry and military bands and armored personnel carriers topped by machine gun turrets. Afterward, military equipment was displayed in a large parking lot.

Not everyone loved this particular parade. A few along the route toted signs and banners bearing messages such as "Don't Celebrate War."

One man was taken away in handcuffs by police after he lay down in front of an armored vehicle and blocked its path. He was later identified as Daniel Lee Foster, 21, a UNC-Greensboro student from Fuquay-Varina, and was charged with disorderly conduct, according to Raleigh police.

"War should be mourned, not celebrated," Patrick O'Neill, one of the organizers of the anti-parade group, said in an interview Friday. "When our nation is at war on two fronts, Iraq and Afghanistan, and soldiers are dying, it seems inappropriate to be celebrating war."

The protesters were a tiny minority, however, unseen by much of the crowd.

"We were told there were protesters here," said onlooker Loran Hardy, 24, who lives in Greenville, S.C., "and I'm thinking, are you insane? Because they are in the most free country in the world, where people can do pretty much what they like, and they are protesting against our military?"

Some people showed up for the parade despite their opposition to the war in Iraq.

Crouse fell into that category. "I'm not against the troops," he said. "I'm for the troops."

Chris Peckham, 39, of North Raleigh, whose sister-in-law is serving in the Army overseas, confessed to having mixed emotions as he watched his 7-year-old son, Taylor, warily inspect a couple of rifles and a grenade launcher that were on display after the parade.

When Taylor picked up one of the rifles, Peckham remarked: "He looks too comfortable."