New Hyde Park will host its Memorial Day Observance Parade and Ceremony this Saturday as the local American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts march to honor their fallen comrades.
“It’s a day of remembrance and thank you for the fallen comrades that have served in the wars of this country and kept this country free,” said Robert Christman, 83, the quartermaster of VFW Post 8031 in New Hyde Park. “We all have had comrades that have fallen in our ranks and this is the day to remember that they gave the maximum in their service.”
The parade begins at 10 a.m. at Lakeville Road and Jericho Turnpike and heads to Village Hall, where the veterans will lay the first of two wreaths.
From there, the parade will proceed up New Hyde Park road to Memorial Park, where the second wreath will be laid, along with a short service. Local elected officials will also attend.
“I think often about all our military personnel who died or were killed so that I can enjoy all of the freedom available in America,” New Hyde Park Mayor Robert Lofaro said in an email. “I get choked up every year when I hear the names of the local men from New Hyde Park that paid the ultimate sacrifice.”
“It’s a sullen march in remembrance of those who have fallen in the wars,” Christman said. “The whole concept is not to be a celebration per say, it’s really a dedication.”
Christman, who served in the Korean War, said Memorial Day has become synonymous with barbecues over the years, and he hopes more people will remember the true reason the day is given off.
“This [holiday] goes way back to the civil war. Over the years, it has become like a, ‘hey it’s a day off from work’… the whole purpose of the holiday is sort of lost in this,” he said. “We need to get back to the original purpose of it.”
The number of VFW’s members has dwindled over the years due to an aging veteran population and lower enrollment levels among younger vets. But. he said, organizations like the VFW are important.
And despite the gap in years between the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the conflicts before them, veterans still share a special bond, Christman said.
“That’s the way war is; it’s pretty horrible, and you can’t explain that to someone else because you just have to be there to feel it,” he said. “It’s the comradeship you cannot duplicate between the non-veterans and a veterans — you can’t duplicate that.”
