With social distance, fallen soldiers will be honored on Memorial Day in Glen Cove

While Memorial Day in Glen Cove will not look the same with the cancellation of the annual Memorial Day Parade, fallen soldiers will still be remembered.

“For Monday we’re going to be doing a very brief ceremony in City Hall in the main chambers with the mayor, just a few veterans and it will consist of the mayor giving his Memorial Day speech and one of the veterans,” said Maureen Basdavanos, the city’s deputy mayor.

Prior to the ceremony, the Glen Cove Fire Department will be raising the flag to taps. The entire ceremony will be recorded and posted on the City of Glen Cove’s social media and website.

The day will include speeches from City of Glen Cove Mayor Tim Tenke and veteran Benjamin Farnan, who is the commander of the James Donahue VFW Post in Glen Cove, followed by a performance of Taps by trumpeter Josial Aschelew of the Glen Cove High School Band. Afterwards, the attending veterans and the trumpeter will head to local memorials, such as the Morgan Park Monument, the Elm Street Monument, the Ford Street Monument and others, to lay down wreaths.

In the future, the Glen Cove Memorial Day Parade Committee plans to present a plaque to the family of fallen soldier Ralph Young, who has a road named after him in Glen Cove. Next year the commander of the Young Simmons Post of Glen Cove, David Hubbard, will be the grand marshal of the parade.

Glen Cove resident and member of the parade planning committee, Fred Nielson, said that it is still important to remember fallen soldiers even in the midst of a national crisis. “In a time of national crisis, we have a particularly serious duty to honor our war death,” Nielson said. “And we’re in a frame of mind and hearts to [honor them] in a particularly special way.”

Hubbard said he agreed. “The honoring must go on,” he said. “We can change different methods of doing it.”

The state clearly agreed as well, as New York State will allow Memorial Day ceremonies to take place this coming weekend, Governor Cuomo said at his daily briefing on Tuesday.

Ceremonies must, however, be limited to 10 or fewer people, and social distancing — standing six feet apart — must be maintained to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Cuomo also encouraged car parades to honor the fallen on Memorial Day, which will be marked officially on Monday, May 25, although the dates of ceremonies and parades may vary from community to community.

While families and individuals in Nassau County will not be able to remember the fallen through parades and ceremonies, the Nassau County Legislature teamed up with the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and veterans to remember them through a different way.

Legislators and community leaders are urging residents to print a PDF of an American Flag and Poppy Flower and tape it on the upper right corner of their front door.

The poster can be printed by visiting the legislature's website: https://www.nassaucountyny.gov/489/County-Legislature.