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Mostly Cloudy Santa visits soldiers in Valley Stream
It was a holiday happening to remember at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 1790 building on Merrick Road on Sunday.
More than 150 U.S. Army servicemen and women from Fort Totten in Bayside, Queens, arrived in Valley Stream to celebrate the season, said VFW commander Joe Marando. “I had a great time and it was well-organized,” he said.
Jolly Old St. Nick was there to greet the soldiers and their families, consisting of 25-30 children, Marando said. Santa gave out gifts to the children before he returned to the North Pole. There was also refreshments and music for the visitors.
One soldier got a medal for serving in Iraq, and another for protecting the United States in Iran.
But one particular moment was very special to Marando, who had agreed to let the soldiers use the facility when they contacted him about a week before the event. “They asked me to come up front to thank me,” he recalled. “I said if they could do something for me, and they sang the Marine Corps hymn. That was a thrill.”
