Honoring local veterans for their service

Michael Lapkowski Sr., a US Army veteran and past commander of the American Legion Post No. 303 in Rockville Centre, served as a pathfinder during the Vietnam War.

Upon completing basic training at Fort Dix in Maryland and airborne training at Fort Benning in Georgia, he was deployed into service.

Lapkowski was stationed high up in the mountains, where he directed helicopters full of troops to the landing zone below.

“I got to know all the crews,” Lapkowski said. “So, during my last 30 days there, I became a crew chief and a door gunner on a helicopter.”

It is thanks to the service of brave men and women, like Lapkowski, and the sacrifices they’ve made, that we, as a nation, are able to embrace our freedom.

That is why each year we get together on Veterans Day to honor all those who fought overseas to protect our way of life back home.

“They come from every state and territory but are bound by one common goal — to defend America with their lives if called upon,” American Legion Post No. 303 Commander Frank Colón Jr. said.

In honor of our local veterans, Gold Star families, and first responders, members of American Legion Post No. 303 in Rockville Centre invited the community to show their support on Nov. 11, at the John A. Anderson Recreation Center on N. Oceanside Road.

“People throughout the country gather together to recognize, to claim with gratitude, those who have served our country so that we can continue to live in freedom,” Colón said. “This day we honor all the men and women who served in the United States military during times of war, as well as times of being.” 

Colón said that today there are about 19 million veterans all across the country, along with the millions we remember who served before them since the time of the American Revolution.

“This surge of American Veterans never truly ends. Even when they hang up their military uniform for the last time, many still choose to serve us,” Colón said.

Joe Scarola, commander of the Nassau County American Legion, continued the ceremony with the ringing of the bell.

This symbolic gesture is done every year in honor and celebration of the armistice treaty signed in 1918 signaling the end of World War I.

It was on the eleventh hour, of the 11th day of November when the fighting on the Western Front ended in a ceasefire. It is because of this that we celebrate our Veterans each year on Nov. 11.

The ceremony drew to a close with the singing of “God Bless America,” after which the color guards presented by members of the Rockville Centre Police Department, the Rockville Centre Volunteer Fire Department, and Boy Scout Troop No. 40 retired the flag.