Lawrence-Cedarhurst Memorial Day Parade and service remenbers those who sacrificed their lives

The Lawrence-Cedarhurst Memorial Day Parade on May 28 proceeded down Central Avenue to Cedarhurst Avenue and to Andrew J. Parise Cedarhurst Park, fittingly named for a military veteran, as adults and children created what Lawrence-Cedarhurst American Legion 339 Commander Syd Mandelbaum called the “largest turnout in years” to remember the 1.5 million Americans since 1776, who lost their lives preserving this nation’s freedom.

Mandelbaum noted this year is the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I — 116,000 American were killed —and said that 750,000 American died in the Civil War (2 percent of the then country’s population) and 405,000 died in WW II.

“On Memorial Day, we remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice,” said the son of Holocaust survivors.

Monsignor Paul Rahilly, pastor emeritus of St. Joachim’s R.C. Church in Cedarhurst, said the men and woman died, “were the definition of the word freedom” and “We remember them today because we have the ability to fly the stars and stripes and have the ability to stand and respect it.”

Cedarhurst Mayor Benjamin Weinstock cited the military service of Robert Blakeman, father of Town of Hempstead Councilman Bruce Blakeman. The senior Blakeman, who died last month at 92, served in the U.S. Merchant Marines during WW II.

Alex Edelman, mayor of Lawrence, noted that the park was named for Andrew Parise. The former Cedarhurst mayor, who died three years ago, served in WW II and helped to liberate concentration camps.

“We carry their love, their honor forward to future generations,” Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky of Yeshiva South Shore in Hewlett, said about the men and women remembered on Memorial Day.