Rockville Centre remembers those who gave the ultimate sacrifice at annual Memorial Day Parade

Grand Marshal Michael Fallon stood in the passenger seat of a dark gray Buick convertible, waving and saluting to those lining Maple Avenue, who clapped or waved American flags. “Thank you,” he said to them sweetly, grinning.

Hundreds gathered for Rockville Centre’s Memorial Day Parade on Monday, which culminated at Veterans Memorial Park — outside the John A. Anderson Recreation Center — where a ceremony honored those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

In addition to veterans, the march featured members of the Rockville Centre police and fire departments, as well as local Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops. The South Side Middle School band, led by Anthony Pomponio, played throughout the parade and at the ceremony after it, and South Side High School students Lio Grillo, Laine Finegan and Reid Plonsky sang the national anthem and “God Bless America.”

Veterans and local officials also addressed the crowd, which they said was larger than the past few years.

Paul Casazza, vice commander of American Legion Post 303, noted the 106 Rockville Centre residents who were killed while serving their country — 19 in World War I, 75 in World War II, five in the Korean War and six in Vietnam.

“And one, and we pray there remains only one, in our nation’s ongoing global war on terror,” Casazza added, referring to First Lt. Ronald Winchester, who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2001, and was on his second tour in Iraq in 2004 when he was killed by a roadside bomb. He was 25.

Fallon, 87, a combat engineer who served in Korea in 1952 and 1953, told the crowd that he spends Memorial Day remembering the brothers who died there on the battlefield.

“Each year, it’s more difficult to put a face to a name, but I do the best I can, because these heroes should never be forgotten,” he said. “Because of their sacrifice, they were never able to enjoy the good fortune that I was blessed with every day — friends, family, a career — the same good fortune that each and every one of you here today enjoys.

“Memorial Day is not just about picnics and parades, but there is nothing wrong with enjoying and celebrating our American way of life,” he continued. “Memorial Day is really about remembering those who made that way of life possible.”

Rockville Centre Mayor Francis X. Murray remembered his cousin, Arthur J. Murray Jr., of Cincinnati, whose helicopter was shot down in Vietnam, as well as his father, Eugene J. Murray, who died in April, at age 93.

Eugene served in World War II in 1944, at age 19, fighting in Germany as part of the U.S. Third Army, led by Gen. George Patton. He was Rockville Centre’s mayor from 1987 to 2007, and was an ex-chief of the Fire Department.

“Luckily he returned home with all his six older brothers,” the mayor said. “I miss him so. He served his country well in World War II. He’s part of the greatest generation.”

Village Trustee Michael Sepe reminded the attendees of how far the sacrifices of fallen heroes have reached. “Of the seven billion human beings that inhabit this planet,” Sepe said, “untold billions that enjoy democracy and basic freedoms can trace their ability to have those freedoms directly to the sacrifice of the servicemen of one particular country.”

After the parade and ceremony, Michael Testa showed his 8-year-old son, Casey, and friends Josh and Noah Feigenbaum, 10 and 13, around the monuments in the park. They looked at the names quietly.

“I was just explaining to the boys, a lot of these were kids who grew up in this town just like them, and they went to war for their country,” Testa told the Herald. “I think the monuments are here for a reason, their names are here for a reason, and that reason is so we don’t forget them.”