Red, white and blue for Wantagh veterans

The Wantagh community came out to support veterans at the Wantagh American Legion’s Veterans Daymemorial on Nov. 11.

The ceremony, which began around 11 a.m. at the Legion post on Park Avenue, welcomed local Boy and Girl Scout Troops, community members, veterans, elected officials and others for a roughly 20 minute ceremony that remembered veterans and current service members.

“A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check payable to the United States of America for the amount up to, and including their life,” George Dibitetto, Commander of Wantagh American Legion Post 1273, said. “That is an honor, and there are too many people in this country who no longer understand that.”

Community groups, including the Wantagh Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary, Boy and Girl Scouts Pack 96, Wantagh and Seaford Homeowners Association, Wantagh School District and others donated wreathes to honor veterans. 

“It takes somebody special to place themselves in harms way in a foreign country, in a foreign land, for the benefit others – and that’s what our veterans do, day in and day out,” Hempstead Town Councilman Chris Carini said during the ceremony. “They provide the blanket of freedom that we all enjoy.”

The ceremony concluded with a Presentation of the Colors from Legion members.