By JOSEPH KELLARD
At the foot of a flag pole on the South Shore Y's parking lot, where Old Glory waving vigorously at half staff, Sydney Sahr, a student at School 2 in Oceanside, sang both songs as part of a ceremony to help lift people's spirits on the morning of Sept. 11.
"We wanted to hold a small ceremony for our young children to be patriotic on this day," said Sheryl Smith, associate executive director at South Shore.
Some 50 people consisting of South Shore's nursery school students, staff and parents gathered in a crescent around Sydney, who wore a star-spangled red, white and blue dress, as Commander of the Oceanside Jewish War Veterans Arthur Fleischman, dressed in the organization's uniform, saluted the flag during her performance and later led everyone in reciting the pledge of allegiance.
Before the start of the brief ceremony, Smith explained to the children what they were remembering that day.
The South Shore staff invited Sydney to perform when they learned that the Oceanside student last August sang "God Bless America" at Shea Stadium before 40,000 Met fans. Last Wednesday, she shaped the words of that song and the national anthem with clarity and perfect enunciation, starting the first number off on a low to moderate tone, only to reveal the power of her 11-year-old lungs during the middle verses.
The enthusiastic applause from the children suggested that she had achieved the ceremony's purpose.
"I liked how the girl sang" said Rachel Hernstat, 4.
Since the Jewish War Veterans meet at South Shore, the staff thought it appropriate to invite Fleischman to the ceremony.
"I was very honored to be asked to say the pledge," said Fleischman, a veteran of World War II and the Korean War. "I feel it makes an impression on the younger people to see someone who was in the military service observing September 11 with them."
Said 4-year-old Max Tunney, "This was a very nice thing."
