National day of remembrance marked with parades in Sea Cliff, Glen Head

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Monday’s sunny skies were a welcome change to the weather that had clouded the festivities of Memorial Day in Sea Cliff and Glen Head in past years, as large crowds across the North Shore community lined up at the respective parade routes even before the 9 a.m. step-off time

In Sea Cliff, village groups and organizations, elected leaders and local servicemen and women gathered at Veterans Memorial Park on Prospect Avenue to get into marching formation. Onlookers cheered when the marchers made their way down Sea Cliff Avenue brandishing American flags and colorful banners.

The parade snaked around side streets and concluded at Clifton Park in front of Memorial Rock, a “glacial pebble” that commemorates the 180 Sea Cliff soldiers who served in World War I. Eight oak trees that stand behind the rock were planted to remember the eight soldiers who didn’t return: James F. Brengel, Dennis Dowd, Richard Dreyer, Ferdinand Frerichs, Harry Mautner, Conrad Schierhorst, Walter Soder and Arthur Wolfle. On parade day each tree was adorned with a red, white and blue ribbon displaying the name of one of the fallen servicemen.

Residents celebrated the true meaning of Memorial Day by singing along with renditions of “America the Beautiful,” the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem.

Across town, residents from Glen Head and Glenwood Landing patiently waited for the parade procession. Members of the Glenwood Landing American Legion Post 336 were joined by Glenwood Landing’s volunteer firefighters, North Shore High School students and other local leaders to march in honor of Memorial Day.

The parade stepped off from the firehouse on Grove Street and weaved through the hamlet towards the legion on Glen Head Road. Legionnaires made dedications to the war dead along the way. Veterans from all wars then joined together to remember their fallen comrades in a ceremony under the legion’s flagpole, which displayed the nation’s colors.