Between amusement rides and hero tributes our wounded veterans are simply not safe.

This combination of undated family photos provided by the Show of Support, Hunt for Heroes committee show, from left: Sgt. Maj. Gary Stouffer, 37; Sgt. Maj. Lawrence Boivin, 47; Army Sgt. Joshua Michael, 34, and Sgt. Maj. William Lubbers, 43, four veterans killed when a parade float they were riding on was struck by a freight train at a crossing Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012, in Midland, Texas. Photo: Courtesy Show Of Support / AP

They were run over by a train. No one checked to find out if there were trains expected along the parade route? It should never have been a surprise. What a nightmare.

Updated: November 16, 2012 6:19pm

JUAN CARLOS LLORCA, Associated Press

MIDLAND, Texas (AP) — Cheered on by a flag-waving crowd, a parade float filled with wounded veterans and their spouses was inching across a railroad track when the crossing gates began to lower and a freight train that seemed to come out of nowhere was suddenly bearing down on them, its horn blaring.

Some of those seated on the float jumped off in wide-eyed terror just moments before the train — traveling at more than 60 mph — crashed into the flatbed truck with a low whoosh and a thunderous crack.

Four veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan — including an Army sergeant who apparently sacrificed his life to save his wife — were killed Thursday afternoon and 16 people were injured in a scene of both tragedy and heroism....