Supporting their community and the military

For the first time in three years Hewlett and Woodmere held a Memorial Day Parade and Monday’s march up Broadway from the Woodmere firehouse to Hewlett High School was representative of the two Five Towns communities.

The procession was led by veterans including Woodmere resident Capt. George Sava (retired) and 1st Lt. John Gherlone, both of the U.S. Army. Hewlett-Woodmere public schools were well represented by students and staff followed by the Hewlett High Big Blue Marching Band.

Groups such as the Knights of Columbus Father John Farrell Council, Five Towns Community Chest, Hewlett-Woodmere Little League and Hewlett-Lawrence Soccer Club marched, along with the Hewlett High Youth Leadership Forum, one of several civic-minded groups, including the Hewlett-Woodmere Business Association, the Hewlett Woodmere Civic Association and the Hewlett and Woodmere fire departments that collaborated to revive the parade.

“It was awesome,” said Haylee Fischer, 6, of Hewlett, who watched the parade with her mother, Christine, and maternal grandfather Eugene O’Brien. “I liked the horses,” Haylee added, who also saw her older sister Samantha and father Erik in the parade. Samantha, 18, is a fire medic with the Hewlett Fire Department and her dad, an ex-Capt., is a firefighter. In addition to seeing her husband and daughter march, Christine had another reason for watching the parade. “To support the community as the parade is back after [three] years,” she said.

On a day to salute military veterans, O’Brien who served in the Coast Guard during World War II in the North Atlantic from 1942-46, recounted how lucky he was one day as a 19-year-old. “We were in heavy seas and I was relieved from watch and five minutes later a wave rode over the ship and carried that man (also 19) overboard,” said the Valley Stream resident, now 88. “For the grace, I go,” he added.

Military roots run deep in Larry and Kathy Anderson’s families. Both had career military fathers, uncles that fought in wars – WW II for Kathy and Korea for Larry – and Larry served in the Air Force in the Philippines from 1972-74. Kathy, the assistant superintendent for Human Resources & Student Services, marched in the parade with her granddaughter, Scarlett.

“Kathy’s dad (Daniel Flanagan) survived Pearl Harbor and ended up in Europe earning the Bronze Star and a Purple Heart,” Larry said. When he says Memorial Day and the parade “means a lot” to him it cannot be taken lightly.

Following the parade, a brief ceremony outside the high school highlighted the military service of Sava, Gherlone and Murray “Morris” Sunshine, a WW II Veteran, and the winners of the school district’s Memorial Day poetry contest. “I was one of the lucky ones who came back, got married and did all those that we Americans do,” Sunshine said.

The Toby Tobias Ensemble performed their eclectic mix of world, roots, jazz and folk music as the crowd enjoyed refreshments under a cloudless sky.