Memorial Day Ceremony on Village Green – VIDEO & PHOTOS
After the parade marched down Purchase Street on Monday, Rye residents gathered on the Village Green in front of Rye City Hall on Monday for a Memorial Day Ceremony complete with a student recitation of the Gettysburg Address by Theodore Millard of Resurrection Middle School and a principal address from US Marine Corps Veteran and Director of the Westchester Department of Consumer Protection Jim Maisano. It was one of the biggest crowds American Legion officials could remember.
The first greeting was from Rye Mayor Josh Cohn, who said in part “What can we in turn do do for those who gave their all? We can acknowledge the debt we can never repay and thank them and their families in our hearts. We can remember them and by remembering them full of life with dreams and hopes, families and friends, honor who they were and their sacrifice.”
“We can learn our history as a nation and so recall all the occasions when neighbors surrendered their lives for ours,” continued Cohn. “We can trace a line from this village green … to the battlefields named on the base of our post road flagpole and to the wars listed on the plaques on the side of City Hall. And we can make it our business to guard both our national conduct and our use of our military so that the inherently noble purpose of this tremendous sacrifice is not lost.”
Other officials took turns delivering remarks, and awards were bestowed, under the watchful eye of American Legion Post 128 Commander Frederick de Barros.
“The Rye heroes we honor today, and others across our country, state and nation entered this hell on earth and never came back,” said principal speaker Maisano. “These heroes made the greatest sacrifices. They were brave and courageous, loyal to their units and their fellow service members and fought with all their hearts and soul in combat.”
“Let’s make something extremely clean. We only have this wonderful country. We only live in a free and democratic society because of these brave military service members from places like Rye and across the United States who gave their lives defending all of us, continued Maisano.
Towards the conclusion of the program, Legionnaire Terry McCartney read the Roll of Honor – seventy seven soldiers from the City of Rye – who gave the ultimate sacrifice so we can each enjoy our freedom.
Watch some of the various remarks and award presentations:
