A Memorable Parade

On Monday, May 31, hundreds of residents celebrated Memorial Day in the Village of Scarsdale. A glorious, sunny sky glowed above Scarsdale’s 2010 Memorial Day Parade as it wove through the streets of the Village. The Scarsdale High School band was heard throughout the parade playing festive pieces like God Bless America and drum cadences. Participants – from infants to the elderly – showed their spirit and patriotism as individual marching groups dressed in their respective uniforms and onlookers waved American flags. Scouts, Scarsdale Little League players, Veterans, Scarsdale Fire Fighters and Ambulance volunteers, and others marched in honor of America’s fallen soldiers. Scarsdale fire trucks, including one from the 1940s, and ambulances trailed the marchers at the end of the parade.

After the parade, speakers reminded guests of the often forgotten significance of Memorial Day during a ceremony at Chase Park. Accomplished scouts were honored with awards during the ceremony. Assemblywoman Amy Paulin offered her thoughts, and Scarsdale Mayor Carolyn Stevens made the following remarks on the meaning of the day:

“Thank you to the American Legion for organizing today’s events – your efforts are truly appreciated.

As I look around at the crowd here today there is one face that is missing: Gene Rogliano. Gene organized the parade and these events for over 40 years and the community is grateful for the dedication he showed to community and to those fellow soldiers who died for their country. Gene made sure that we did not forget them and their sacrifice and we are better for it.

“Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer: we eat too much at barbeques; pools and beaches open; we can wear our pants and white shoes again; and we attend parties and parades.

But let us not forget the true purpose of this most solemn day –We gather today, just as we have gathered before, to remember and honor those who served, those who fought, and those who gave their last full measure of devotion for our country.

This tradition dates back to the Civil War. There are numerous stories of the origins of the this day. My personal favorite is the story of southern women who went to visit the graves of their fallen soldiers and saw the overgrown and bare graves of fallen northern soldiers and laid flowers on them as well. Waterloo, New York has been recognized as the official home of Decoration Day where a druggist closed his shop in 1866 and urged others in his town to do the same to adorn the graves of those who had died to preserve the Union. After World War I, Memorial Day was changed to include all who had died in America’s wars.

Whatever its origins, the true purpose of Memorial Day is to remember and honor the more than one million men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice- from Christopher Snider, a 12 year old boy who was killed 5 days before the Boston Massacre at the start of the Revolutionary War, to 28 year old Sgt. Edwin Rivera of Waterford, Connecticut who was killed in Afghanistan on May 28th, 2010 - all have died that we may be free. These men and women – sons and daughters, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters – valued the life they had in this country but gave up their own lives to preserve it for us; revered freedom but sacrificed their own freedom that we may live free; gave up their pursuit of happiness that we might pursue ours.

As Lincoln dedicated a portion of the battlefield at Gettysburg as a cemetery for those who had died there, he stated in his speech, “that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. Let us too join in that resolve. Remember those who have died - maybe walk over to Boniface Circle and look at the names inscribed there or stop by the Memorial Garden by the pool with its plaques memorializing the role of Scardalians in our country’s conflicts; or the next time you see a game on Dean Field remember it is named for a young Scarsdale man who died in Vietnam. And honor them by being good citizens and do not take the freedoms that they paid for with their blood for granted – remember to vote in elections; inform yourself on the issues; make your voices heard and make sure that we do not send more of our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, to die in a cause less noble than their regard for their call to duty. And honor them by giving up some of your time to give back to your community and country. By serving in your own way you honor their service.

Take what they have taught you with their dying and keep it as your own. Remember those who were called upon to give all a person can give. Most of all, remember the devotion and gallantry with which all of them ennobled our nation and each one of us. “