Memorial Day Parades This Weekend
Before the beach and barbecues, lets honor those behind the reason for the three-day holiday weekend—those who made the supreme sacrifice while serving this country in the U.S. military.
On Sunday, May 26, Broad Channel will hold their Memorial Day Parade. There will be a memorial service in the morning at St. Virgilius Church, and then the Broad Channel Volunteer Fire Department (15 Noel Road) will have a memorial for its fallen members at 11 a.m. Broad Channel’s parade begins with a wreath laying ceremony at the flagpole in 17th Road Park at 12:45 p.m. The parade starts at around 1 p.m. and continues down Cross Bay Boulevard to the George Riekers Veterans Memorial Park near East 6th Road. The parade will be followed by refreshments at VFW Post 260 at 713 Shad Creek Road.
On Monday, May 27, the American Legion Daniel M. O’Connell Post #272 will host its 105th Memorial Day Parade in Rockaway. The day will commence with a memorial Mass at 10 a.m. at Saint Francis De Sales Church on Beach 129th Street. At the conclusion of the services, a brief ceremony will be held at the Four Chaplains monument outside the church. Immediately following, sometime after 11 a.m., the parade will proceed to Beach 121st Street for a ceremony at the Veterans Memorial Circle. Upon the conclusion of this ceremony, the parade will march up Beach 120th to the boardwalk. The parade will continue along the boardwalk to Beach 95th Street and will proceed to the the Doughboy and Doughgirl monuments at Veterans Memorial Plaza at Beach 95th Street and Rockaway Beach Blvd. for a concluding ceremony.
No motorized vehicles will be permitted along the boardwalk route. All veterans are invited to march. Locals are asked to line the streets and boardwalk to cheer on our veterans as they march by. After the ceremonies, a reception for veterans will follow at the Knights of Columbus on Beach 90th Street.
“Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for our fallen comrades that we never forget their sacrifice for America,” parade chairman Jim Trainor said. “These young men and women answered the call when their country called on them and made the ultimate sacrifice for America.”
Photos by Dan Guarino and Katie McFadden.
