By NANCY HILER
"One of our teachers told me that the children in her class were so excited because they were going to meet some real heroes today," the school's principal, Faith Skelos, commented as she introduced local representatives of the armed forces to the students.
"In the service, we do not consider ourselves to be heroes," Vietnam veteran and retired U.S. Petty Officer Roy D'Andrea said. "We're the ones who are blessed. We came back. The heroes are the ones we will honor on Monday [Memorial Day], the ones who didn't come back." D'Andrea is a former commander of North Bellmore American Legion Post No. 1749.
Also on hand to talk to the students were current commander of the post and co-chairman of the combined Memorial Day Parade of the Bellmores Frank Colon, and active servicemen U.S. Army Command Sgt. Major Justin Lenz and U.S. Marines Cpl. Paul Synowiecz.
Words of "whirled" peace
The early afternoon program began with the band students playing patriotic songs, including "Yankee Doodle." All of the students - most dressed in red, white and blue - placed handcrafted pinwheels into the ground behind the school in the shape of a peace symbol, a cheerful and colorful display that "whirled" in the wind. In their classrooms, the children had folded construction paper into the star-like shape and set straight pins into the eraser heads on pencils, which served to stake them.
Many of the children wrote messages about peace or to those serving in Iraq on their pinwheels. Among the most popular were "Thank you," and "God Bless America." One child wrote, "It's nice to have peace." Another said, "It's good if everyone got along."
At war, hoping for peace
Later, as the servicemen spoke, many of the children raised their hands to announce that their grandfathers served in past wars or that their uncles were currently in Iraq. Lenz, himself recently back from Iraq, explained to the children that everyone who serves in a war hopes for peace. He also told the students, one of whom is his own son Michael, how thankful he was that they had sent him and members of his unit Valentine's Day cards when he was over there. "It was a big morale boost," he said. "It's nice to know people back home were thinking of us."
"My unit took down the statue of Saddam [Hussein] in Baghdad," Synowiecz, 22, said. He joined the Marines when he was 17, and had been to Iraq twice since then, he told the students. "I thought we were just coming here to talk to you, but I want to thank everyone for the pinwheels. I wasn't expecting that," he said.
"Freedom doesn't come free," Colon, retired from the U.S. Army since 1994 after Desert Storm, told the children. "It's important for young people to remember that on Memorial Day we honor the men and women fallen in service," he said, "those who gave their lives for our country and our way of life."
Also in attendance were Town of Hempstead Clerk Mark Bonilla, a Bellmore resident and grand marshal of this year's Memorial Day Parade, North Bellmore Board of Education Trustee Mary Oporto and Superintendent of Schools Dominic Mucci.
As the ceremony ended, the children participated in a sing-a-long, whose lyrics included "What do you say to a hero...thank you."
Comments about this story? Nhiler@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 234.
