Valley Stream turns out for Memorial Day Parade

Summer weather and large crowds marked the annual commemoration.

Micah Danney/Herald

Vietnam veterans John Filiault, left, and William Hunter, far right, salute during the ceremony.

Firefighters were some of the sharpest-dressed marchers in the parade.

Parade chairman Marty Kielawa addressed the crowd. Behind him is the parade’s grand marshall, Vietnam veteran George Fox.

Valley Stream resident Teresa Lee watched the parade with her humongous dog, Dexter. He turned many a marcher’s head.

Valley Stream Soccer Club President Timothy Graham, right, and his wife, Jennifer, center, led the club in the parade.

The Central High School Band, led by director Douglas Coleman, played the national anthem during the ceremony.

Sienna Wallach, 10 months old, waved her flag on the Village Green after the parade.

Courtesy Jon Wallach

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As the reading of the names of casualties of war commenced at the Memorial Day ceremony at Valley Stream’s Veterans Memorial Monument on Monday, a bird took off from just behind the monument. The soft flap of its wings was audible over the reverent silence of the more than 200 people in attendance.

The serendipitous moment occurred after the first name was read, that of village resident William F. Schmidt, who died during World War I. Veterans, officials and residents lined up to place a rose at the monument for each of the 95 locals who lost their lives in that conflict as well as World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam and the Iraq war.

“This was, without a doubt, the biggest crowd we ever had,” said Marty Kielawa, parade chairman of the Valley Stream Memorial Day Committee, which organizes the parade and commemoration program each year. Kielawa said that in past years, participants have had to return to the line to place a second rose, but this year, enough residents participated that that wasn’t necessary.

The Central High School band, led by director Douglas Coleman, played the national anthem and service airs during the ceremony.

Village resident William Hunter, a veteran of the conflict in Vietnam, kissed his hand and touched the monument after he laid his rose in front of it.

“I think the American public has lost the true meaning of Memorial Day,” Hunter said. He hoped people would recognize the moment of silence at 3 p.m., which Congress codified as federally recognized in 2000.

Standing with fellow Vietnam veteran John Filiault, Hunter said the day holds a deep meaning for veterans who carry memories of friends killed in conflicts in foreign places. “We didn’t get any [respect] when we came back,” Hunter said. “I’m not crying, it’s just a simple fact.”

Filiault said he thinks of several people on Memorial Day, specifically a member of his military police company who died in Vietnam, Peter Lopez, of California. Filiault also thinks of Michael J. Abruzzesa, a village resident who was killed in the same conflict, who his sister knew and who he remembers from his childhood.

Hunter said he thinks of his brother, Jimmy, who survived his service in Vietnam.

Filiault said he notices a separation of the politics of war and its human costs that represents an improvement since his time in the military. “We’re glad, at least now, that people appreciate the warriors, even if you’re against the war. That wasn’t the case in our war.”