New City: Parade starts at 11 a.m. at the Street Community Center, 31 Zukor Road, New City. The ceremony is emceed by Veteran Sean Magee. This year the guest speaker is Congers resident, Col. Angela Woods, who is currently the Chief of the Health Services Support Team of the 7301st Medical Training Support Battalion at Joint Base McCuire, Dix, Lakehurst, NJ and the Chief Administrative Officer of Access: Supports for Living in Middletown, NY.
May 25
Congers: The Veterans Memorial Association of Congers’ Memorial Day Parade starts at 10:30 a.m. at the Congers Spring Valley Volunteer Ambulance Corps to the Congers VMA. It will be followed by a service.
May 26
Montebello: The village of Montebello will hosts its remembrance at 9 a.m. on the front lawn of Village Hall, 1 Montebello Road, Suffern. The ceremony will include Marine Corps League, Rockland County Detachment, Color Guard and Rifle Salute, God Bless America by Fiona O’Brien of Suffern Middle School, Reading of the Gettysburg Address by Viola Elementary School 5th Graders – Micah Fox, Sequoia Jozokos-Bookman, Jacob Santiago, and Guest Speaker: John A. Murphy, USMC Retired, and Former Rockland County Legislator.
May 27
Haverstraw: Ceremonies at 9 a.m. at Haverstraw Town Hall, One Rosman Road; 9:30 a.m. at Calico Hill Veteran’s Memorial, Railroad Avenue, Garnerville; 10 a.m. at Civil War Monument, Hudson Avenue, Haverstraw; 10:30 a.m. at World War II Monument, Clove Avenue, Haverstraw; 11 a.m. at World War I Monument, Mount Repose Cemetery; 11:30 a.m. watch fire ceremony at Bowline Point Park. (via Lohud)
Hillburn: Parade starts at 9 a.m at the Suffern Central School District Administration building and will proceed to the World War I monument at the corner of Lake Avenue and Fourth Street for the ceremony.
Nanuet: Ceremony starts at 11 am at Prospect Street Rose Garden (across from the Post Office). There will be a remembrance and laying of the wreaths ceremony. Refreshments at Nanuet Firehouse following.
New City: A parade will start at 11am on Collyer Avenue and travel down Main Street ending at the courthouse – sponsored by American Legion Post 1682
Nyack: Parade kicks off at 11 a.m. on Artropee Way and ends at Memorial Park where a ceremony will be held.
Pearl River: The John H. Secor American Legion Post 329 of Pearl River, NY will host the Annual Memorial Day Parade. The Parade will start at 10:15 A.M. from Key Bank, across from the bowling alley on North Middletown Road. The parade route then heads south to East Central Avenue and then down East Central Avenue to Braunsdorf Park in the heart of Pearl River.
The primary guest speaker this year will be Pearl River resident Mr. Paul Crowe, a U.S. Army Combat Veteran who served in Vietnam. In 1969 while deployed to Vietnam Paul was quickly promoted to Staff Sergeant serving as an Infantry Squad Leader and Platoon Sergeant while assigned to the 25th Infantry Division.
Sloatsburg: At 10 a.m. there will be a ceremony at Veterans’ Park at the municipal building until 10:25 a.m. A parade will follow, lead by the Suffern High School band, down Route 17. There will be a gun salute at the library’s WWI memorial. Then the parade continues down Eagle Valley Road to the cemetery, where a gun salute will be held and “Taps” will be played. From there, there will be a gathering at the community fields where refreshments will be served.
Spring Valley: At 1 p.m. in Memorial Park, the Spring Valley American Legion Mascarella Post #199 and the Village of Spring Valley will be hosting their annual Memorial Day observance. All residents of the village are invited to honor those that have served our country. There will be representatives of the U.S. Armed Forces in attendance, as well as the customary Posting and Retirement of the Military Colors. Music will be provided by the East Ramapo Marching Band and light refreshments will be served.
Stony Point: The cemetery service will begin at 8:30 a.m. at Mount Rest Cemetery located on West Main Street. The parade lineup will then begin on the corner of Jay Street and TenEyck Street at 9 a.m. The marching will kick off at 9:30 a.m., which includes a service at the Spring Memorial shortly after kick off and commences with a final memorial service at Town Hall around 10:30 a.m.
Stony Point Battlefield: 2:30-3 p.m. Participate in a Memorial Day commemoration for fallen soldiers from all wars with a presentation of an 18th century military ceremony to honor the dead. Followed immediately by a 3 p.m. artillery demonstration. Stony Point Battlefield State Historic Site, 44 Battlefield Road, Stony Point.
Suffern: Beginning at 11 a.m., the parade lines up at the corners of Lafayette and Orange avenues and proceeds up Lafayette Avenue to a soldiers monument where a ceremony will be held. All veterans, service members, girl scouts and boy scouts are invited to march.
May 29
Rockland County Watchfires
Watchfires for the troops who didn’t return from war will be lit at midnight May 29 at the end of the Piermont Pier and burn for 24 hours at four locations: Bowline Point Park in Haverstraw, Eugene Levy Memorial Park on Route 45 in Pomona, the top of Clausland Mountain in Orangeburg, and the east end of the Piermont Pier. (Photo by Owen Cramsie)
In 1921, an unknown World War I American soldier was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. This site, on a hillside overlooking the Potomac River and the city of Washington, D.C., became the focal point of reverence for America’s veterans. Similar ceremonies occurred earlier in England and France, where an unknown soldier was buried in each nation’s highest place of honor (in England, Westminster Abbey; in France, the Arc de Triomphe). These memorial gestures all took place on November 11, giving universal recognition to the celebrated ending of World War I fighting at 11 a.m., November 11, 1918 (the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month). The day became known as “Armistice Day.” Armistice Day officially received its name in America in 1926 through a Congressional resolution. It became a national holiday 12 years later by similar Congressional action. If the idealistic hope had been realized that World War I was “the War to end all wars,” November 11 might still be called Armistice Day. But only a few years after the holiday was proclaimed, war broke out in Europe. Sixteen and one-half million Americans took part. Four hundred seven thousand of them died in service, more than 292,000 in battle. Armistice Day Changed To Honor All Veterans The first celebration using the term Veterans Day occurred in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1947. Raymond Weeks, a World War II veteran, organized “National Veterans Day,” which included a parade and other festivities, to honor all veterans. The event was held on November 11.