New Yorkers Turn Out for Grissom and Young

Mar. 29, 1965 - Virgil Grissom and John Young were warmly and wetly welcomed by admiring New Yorkers today with a Broadway ticker tape parade for the two astronauts in miserable weather.

Soaked at its end, the nation’s latest space heroes spent an hour recuperating in a steam bath. Afterward, Grissom said of the parade crowds:“It was wonderful that they came out in weather like this.”

Richard Patterson, city greeter and a veteran of 52 ticker tape parades, said the rain was the worst in his memory. But he added:“The crowds were as thick as I’ve ever seen them.”

However, only about 200 tons of ticker tape fell on lower Manhattan streets — far below the record 3,474 tons showered three years ago on John Glenn.

The climax of the astronauts’ welcome came at a reception where Young got a laugh from 1,500 guests when he told them:“I haven’t seen so much water since we got out of the Atlantic.”

Grissom also took the foul weather in stride. In reference to last Tuesday’s two-man Gemini 3 flight that ended in the Atlantic, he pointed out: “We just got a little bit wet recently.”

Beneath a dark sea of umbrellas, hundreds of thousands lined lower Broadway as the newest astronaut heroes rode up to City Hall in the steady downpour.

“Bet they were more comfortable in space,” remarked one bystander. 

Sitting between Grissom and Young was Vice President Humphrey, who also got a good drenching. From the steps of City Hall, he declared:“We realize the elements have conspired against us, but this minor act of nature has not deterred us from an overwhelming reception.”

For Young, 34, a Navy lieutenant commander, it was his first visit to New York since he was a small boy. He recalled:

“The last time I was there was in 1934. It was snowing then, and it’s raining now. At that time, I was more interested in the Bronx Zoo. But this time, I’ll get a good look at the city.”

Grissom, 38, and Young soared 81,000 miles last Tuesday during three orbits of the Earth in their Gemini spaceship, nicknamed the Molly Brown because Grissom’s first flight had ended in near disaster when his space capsule sank in the sea.

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