St. Paul native led this week’s inauguration parade

A graduate of St. Paul’s Cretin-Derham Hall and the University of Minnesota led Wednesday’s Task Force Parade during the inauguration ceremonies. After a year of planning, with plenty of curveballs along the way, Lt. Col. Thomas Chapeau called it an “epic day.”

“We had 15 mph winds and the wind was really making every single flag fly high,” he said. “And they had flags flying on everything, from the sides of the buildings, to the light posts, to the fences, and even across all the rooftops. It was an absolute amazing sight.”

The parade is a 225-year-old tradition in which the new president and vice president “inspect” their troops, who then escort them into the White House for the first time. Traditionally there are about 7,500 people marching in the parade and more than a million spectators. But COVID-19 protocols cut the number of parade participants down to about 600 and emptied the streets of revelers.

Still, Chapeau said it was no less significant.

“Even though COVID has changed the entire face of the inauguration this year, we were still able to execute it. This is a time-honored tradition and we did it safely,” he said. “And as I stood there as a service member, we represented all of the service members past and present on this day in order to welcome our new commander-in-chief.

“What an epic day. I was really, truly honored to be a part of it.”

Chapeau spoke with MPR News host Tom Crann. Click play on the audio player above to hear their conversation.