Heads bowed in remembrance in Rockville Centre

Monday morning began with rain and lightning, but hours later the weather cleared and the sun was beaming over Rockville Centre. At 10 a.m., the Memorial Day parade kicked off under beautiful skies, as residents and out-of-towners paid tribute to the servicemen and women who gave their lives in America’s wars.

The parade’s grand marshal was the Rev. John McCarthy, a retired Navy chief petty officer who has been a priest at St. Agnes Cathedral since 2008. McCarthy led the parade from North Village Avenue east to the Recreation Center on North Oceanside Road, where a commemoration ceremony followed at Veterans Park. Joining him at the start of the event were Mayor Mary Bossart, Deputy Mayor Chuck Joyce, Trustees Kevin Glynn, David Krasula and Ed Oppenheimer and State Sen. Dean Skelos.

The South Side Middle School band — and many more village clubs, organizations and residents — lined up behind the parade line of local politicians and village representatives, who walked in front of a police escort. The Rockville Centre Little League and Tea Party Patriots also marched, along with local Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops and the Rockville Centre Recreation Department.

Members of the Fire Department and its color guard were also in attendance, but the Police Department did not march in the parade for a second straight year due to ongoing contract negotiations. Police Commissioner Charles Gennario and Lt. Chris Romance represented the department, along with officers on duty. Unlike last year, a handful of members from the Rockville Centre Police Benevolent Association also joined in the services.

“Memorial Day was born of our shared human nature and our human need to understand, to remember and to honor,” McCarthy, who was raised in Levittown, said at the ceremony after the parade. “It’s a day of mourning, a day of celebration.”