Thursday, October 1, 2026
For veterans throughout Merrick and North Merrick, Memorial Day is an important opportunity to pay respects to their friends, colleagues and predecessors who died in service of the United States.
The parade was held throughout the streets of Merrick, hosted by American Legion Post No. 1282.
Attendees gathered at Merrick Avenue and Veterans Plaza at 9:30 a.m. Organizers started the ceremony at the Merrick’s Veteran Memorial Park in the late morning, featuring members of Merrick’s schools, houses of worship, clubs, fire departments and elected officials.
Robert Dishman is the commander of Merrick American Legion Post 1282.
“The parade is a community parade; we get good support from the Chamber of Commerce and Kiwanis, and a lot of the organizations, the schools,” he said. “It’s important because we’re remembering all the people that all the people, men and women, that sacrifice time, and a lot of them, basically their lives, but so that we could have our freedoms, so that we can enjoy to live here freely and practice our religions the way we want, go to school as we want, get it as we want.”
Many of the members of the American Legion are veterans from the Korean War, the Vietnam War, Operation Desert Storm, and more.
“It’s like me on those monuments, the one where they list the names,” Dishman said. “I went to school with a lot of those guys that aren’t here anymore. They got killed on Vietnam, and that’s basically why all of us that are able to march, or even just to participate in a parade if they can’t march, do. We do it because it’s people that we serve with, we believe that they deserve this honor.”
