Memorial Day brings pride and honor to East Meadow

The highlight of Alicia Somar’s weekend was a surprise visit by two members of the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels. The 14-year-old was reading her school books in a bed at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow last Friday when two members of the famed flight demonstration squadron stopped by her room, eliciting a wide smile.

Before they soared above Jones Beach, members of the Blue Angels walked the halls of the NUMC, greeting children who were spending their holiday weekend in the East Meadow hospital.

“It made me really happy to see them,” said Alicia, who has hyperthyroidism and spent the weekend recovering from treatment. Strewn across her bed were a variety of books, including “Never Give Up,” about overcoming physical illness.

“I’ve been watching them since I was a kid,” Paul Pipia, NUMC’s president and chief executive officer, said of the Blue Angels. “They put a smile on everyone’s face here, and we’re happy to have them.”

Pilots Clarence Presley and Juan Guerra chatted with Alicia about her love of math and her favorite activities at school. They told her to look out her hospital window the next morning to watch their show.

Remembering those who served

For Henry Kneuer Jr., who’s known as Skip, the highlight of the weekend was marching in the community Memorial Day parade, 60 years after taking part in the annual tradition as a Little League athlete. This year, Kneuer, a Vietnam War veteran, was honored as the parade’s grand marshal.

And for Dolores Rome, the weekend’s highlight was watching parade participants march down the streets of East Meadow. Rome and Liz Fries have hosted the parade for 20 years, to commemorate the lives of those who died while serving in the U.S. military, like Rome’s father, Paul Messina, who died in 1982. It’s also about thanking those who served, like her husband, James Rome.

“There’s not much you can say to someone who risks [their life] to serve our country,” Rome said, adding that she often wonders how her mother coped while her father was in the military.

Participants stepped off at East Meadow High School and marched to Veterans Memorial Park on Prospect Avenue, where they honored Kneuer. “I feel like I’ve come full circle,” he said of his many years of marching in the parade.

Kneuer grew up in East Meadow, and graduated from East Meadow High School in 1965 before he was drafted into the Army. He served with the 720th Military Police Battalion in Fort Hood, Texas, and then in Tay Ninh and Long Bien, Vietnam. He is now a member of American Legion Post 1082 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2736.

Speakers at the ceremony also included the Rev. Robert Holz, of East Meadow’s St. Raphael’s Parish, State Assemblyman John Mikulin, County Legislators Thomas McKevitt and Norma Gonsalves, and Chamber of Commerce President Frank Camarano. In addition to paying their respects to those who served, each emphasized the importance of treating every day like Memorial Day, and always keeping in mind those who have fought and died for the U.S. military.