With parade and ceremony, E.M. honors the fallen

A parade, a backyard barbecue, American flags, and tons of red, white and blue: images of Memorial Day, the holiday observed across the country on the last Monday in May. East Meadow is no different, with its streets decorated with flags and its community-wide parade on Monday.

Memorial Day has its own special meaning to everyone, especially if a family member or friend died while serving in the U.S. military, and is among those whom people gather to honor each year.

“Memorial Day signifies the day we remember our fallen soldiers, and it’s not about having a barbecue,” said Frank Belardo, the grand marshal of the East Meadow parade and a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2736. “It’s remembering the soldiers that gave a great sacrifice so that we can have our freedom. There’s nothing like getting out and watching the beautiful parade and seeing everyone dressed up.

“It shows that we’re unified,” Belardo added, ‘and believe in the same thing.”

“Land of the free because of the brave” is what Memorial Day means to East Meadow resident Richie Krug. “You celebrate the memory of those who gave up their lives,” Krug said, “and kids today don’t realize what it was like to be drafted. They have no idea what it’s like to have their brothers or sisters killed in a war. Young people take it all for granted.”

The weather was sunny and hot this year, but that didn’t stop the community from coming out and lining up to watch the procession. The Patriot Guard Riders, a national nonprofit whose members attend the funerals and memorials for members of the U.S. military and first responders, and Belardo led the parade from East Meadow High School to Veterans Memorial Park.

For many, the joy of seeing the parade and its marchers has not waned over the years. “My earliest memories of the Memorial Day parade was the parade on Franklin Avenue, the widest two-way street in East Meadow at the time,” Walt Bridges, an East Meadow resident, wrote to the Herald.

Bridges wrote that in the 1950s and ’60s, the parade used to start at Meadow Lawn School, now known as McVey Elementary. “We would put red, white and blue crepe paper streamers in the spokes of our bicycles, ride around and then grab a spot to watch the parade. As a Boy Scout in the 60’s we would march in the parade with the fire department and band, VFW, the school bands and community groups marching in procession. The fire trucks were at the end of the line and when the East Meadow Library bookmobile was the last in the parade, you knew the parade was over.”

Before the parade, the fire department had its annual inspection to see which truck and firehouse were the cleanest. Chief Peter Cheswick, ex-chiefs and company officers are the judges. They also lay wreaths on the memorial bell at fire  department headquarters and at the firefighter memorial in Eisenhower Park to remember the firefighters who died in the line of duty.

“We do this stuff to remember the man or woman that died serving our country and that’s the big part of it,” Cheswick said. “I just ask that when we march down the town that my department members remember those who gave us the right to do that.”