Wet weather put a damper on some Memorial Day celebrations Monday, but Albertson’s Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5253’s remembrance of the soldiers who died at war went on as it has for two decades.
“Like a rock, like today, you’re always here,” said state Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel (D-Port Washington), who has attended the post’s ceremonies for 17 years. “And it doesn’t matter whether we’re outside in the sun, or inside — we are together.”
More than a dozen state and local officials, more than 30 firefighters and more than 50 veterans and others came to the post Monday morning to honor the U.S. soldiers from Albertson and across the country who have been killed in American wars on the 150th anniversary of Memorial Day.
Led by World War II U.S. Army veteran Tony Catalano, officials and VFW leaders called on the crowd to remember those who gave the “ultimate sacrifice” for the nation, and to care for the veterans who made it home.
“No veterans who serve this country should go unrecognized in life, illness and in death,” said Catalano, who fought for four years in Europe under General George Patton.
The Albertson VFW post has held Memorial Day remembrances for about 20 years, Catalono said. In the days before the ceremony, VFW members placed wreaths on soldiers’ graves at local cemeteries to honor their memory, he said.
Memorial Day began in 1866 as Decoration Day to remember soldiers killed in the Civil War, Post Commander Jack Hirsch said. It became a national holiday in 1966.
Catalano said he lost many fellow soldiers at the Battle of the Bulge and the storming of the beaches in Normandy, France.
It is the “worst day of my life,” he said, but to him it is imperative to keep fallen soldiers’ memory alive so younger people understand the significance of their sacrifice.
“It’s the memory of all the guys that were buried, all these poor guys, 19 years old, that were buried in our national cemeteries, that never got home,” Catalano said. “They never got home.”
Albertson VFW members helped honor state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s father, Nicholas DiNapoli, at his funeral last week following his death at age 92, the comptroller said.
There are soldiers whose names will have to be added to the list of those honored on Memorial Day as armed conflicts continue, he said.
“We sometimes think of it only as history, yet we have to acknowledge that today even as we speak, we have men and women fighting for us around the globe,” DiNapoli said.
Memorial Day also presents an opportunity for Americans to make sure veterans have the resources they need to “make their transition back into civilian life as seamless as possible” when they come home, state Sen. Jack Martins (R-Old Westbury) said.
Caring for veterans who survive war is crucial, as 22 veterans commit suicide each day in the U.S., said Marietta DiCamillo, president of the Albertson VFW’s Ladies Auxiliary.
“We as a nation seem to be more and more unwilling to shoulder the responsibility of caring for the living who still carry invisible and visible wounds from the battlefield,” DiCamillo said.
Like many municipalities, the Town of North Hempstead works to provide services to veterans to “make sure that they are getting the thanks that they so justly deserve,” town Supervisor Judi Bosworth said.
U.S. Navy Commander Bill Kempner of Roslyn Heights unveiled a memorial to four men from Albertson and Roslyn Heights who died in the Vietnam War.
Among them was Private First Class Channing Allen of Albertson, who died at age 24. His brother Jefferson Allen funded the memorial.
“They all had one thing in common: they did their duty,” Allen said.
