Rye Memorial Day Starts Monday, 9:30am at Train Station
Once again, the City of Rye will carry on its tradition of honoring its deceased veterans on Memorial Day on Monday, May 29, 2017.
Rye American Legion Post 128 and the Auxiliary will sponsor a parade, beginning at the Rye Train Station at 9:30 a.m. and proceeding along Purchase Street to the Village Green for ceremonies at 10:30 a.m.
The public is invited to enjoy music, marchers, trucks and cars. The Rye Historical Society will provide horses and riders. Unique antique cars will also travel the parade route.
(PHOTO: Keynote speaker Dockery)
At 10:30 a.m., American Legion Post 128 Commander Fred de Barros will begin the formal ceremony on the Village Green. Rye City Mayor Joseph Sack will greet guests. The keynote speaker will be Rye resident and Vietnam veteran Martin Dockery. Other speakers include Sen. George Latimer and Assemblyman Steve Otis. Members of the Rye City Council and the Rye Board of Education will also be in attendance.
As keynote speaker, Martin Dockery will share his experience and perspectives. In September 1962, when Dockery landed in Saigon, he was a young, determined, idealistic U.S. Army first lieutenant convinced of America’s imminent victory in Vietnam. While most of the twelve thousand U.S. military advisors in-country at the time filled support positions in Saigon and other major cities, Dockery was one of a handful of advisors assigned to Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) combat units.
For eight months Dockery lived and fought in the heart of the Mekong Delta with an ARVN infantry battalion on missions and operations that often lasted several days. Martin’s book Lost in Translation: Vietnam: A Combat Advisor’s Story provides inescapable evidence that as early as 1962 the writing was already on the wall concerning the outcome of the Vietnam War.
The annual Americanism Award will be presented to Tom Saunders, former Commander of Rye Post 128, and dedicated leader around Rye at SPRYE and the Rye Rotary.
The ceremony features the traditional reading of the Gettysburg Address and the reading of the names of those from Rye who fought and perished in the wars of the 20th century. The John M. Kingery Memorial Day Essay Contest Awards will be presented to winning Rye High School students. The program will also include recognition of Rye Eagle Scouts.
Robin Latimer, president of the American Legion Auxiliary will sing the National Anthem and God Bless America.
Prior to the parade, members of the Rye Fire Department will conduct a brief ceremony and lay flowers at the monument in the circle at Milton Road and Grace Church Street at 8:15 a.m. The monument honors Rye firefighters who served their nation.
The public is invited to attend the parade and all ceremonies.
A Stain On Rye That Will Last Forever
On Memorial Day 2017 let us not forget WWII veteran Robert W. Schubert and the way he was acutely mistreated in the last years of his life by two successive Rye City administrations.
Robert William Schubert was a long-time resident of Rye, NY. He was 88 when he passed away at his home. He was a World War II veteran naval commander. During World War II, Bob Schubert was assigned to the LSM-441 of the Pacific Theater. He captained the first non-Red Cross ship into Nagasaki, Japan, after the detonation of the second atomic bomb. He remained in the US Navy for 20 years, retiring as a Commander. Later, he continued his dedicated service as the Commander of the American Legion Post 128.
After active duty, Mr. Schubert worked at Columbia University’s Nevis Laboratories as a Chief Engineer on the Synchrocyclotron project for the Navy. He joined Watson Laboratories and worked as Chief Mechanical Engineer on the Naval Ordnance Research Computer (NORC), the fastest computer in existence in 1954. Mr. Schubert had several overseas assignments for IBM including Director of Defense and Complex Contracts in Paris, France, and Director of the Maritime Systems Center in Brussels, Belgium, and in Milan, Italy.
Although Mr. Schubert was always involved and very well known in Rye he walked into the main political spotlight after the water dried up in his pond as a result of an unpermitted construction project on the upstream neighboring property. This excavation project – begun as a simple secret attempt to save money by working illegally while the city naturalist was on vacation – was allowed to proceed un-remediated due to compromised city hall officials and their undisclosed conflicts of interest with paid influence peddlers serving select members of the political class of Rye.
After City Hall refused to enforce its wetlands codes (in an effort to selectively save a Rye political donor $100,000 dollars or more in permitting, environmental consulting and construction fees) Bob Schubert set out determined to require the City to do what it had purposely failed to do from the start – enforce its Wetland and Watercourse Code Chapter 195 and restore the historic wetlands on his Forest Avenue property.
In February of 2009 in an effort to avoid municipal embarrassment and an attempt to silence Bob Schubert, Senior Rye City administrators attempted to have Bob committed to the psychiatric unit of the Westchester County Medical Center. But the City’s attempt failed badly and baldly – resulting in the firing of the then city manager – and failing to deter or silence Bob Schubert.
The second round of attempts to silence Bob Schubert began on March 18, 2011 when now proven serial public liar Ex-City Manager Scott Pickup claimed that Bob had threatened his life and the life of then Councilwoman Catherine Parker. At the time Bob was 88 years old, required oxygen tanks to breath and weighted in at every bit of 100 lbs.
The third and final attempt to silence Bob Schubert occurred after Bob later again entered City Hall to view a public wetlands map located on the wall. Bob was then again charged by police and prosecuted after yet another malicious false complaint lodged by City Manager Pickup.
The two Rye City Administrations responsible for these abominations should bow their heads in shame forevermore and honest American’s should never forget nor hesitate to speak out about the way this distinguished Rye citizen was abused in the last years of his life by corrupt officials and others for money.
If you’d like, please watch the short video below as Robert W. Schubert was honored in front of a city council, who refused to even acknowledge his passing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BllMY7KtS0Y