Lynbrook/East Rockaway
CoMMuNity uPDAtE infections as of Nov. 30
959
infections as of Nov. 23 942
HERALD Also serving Bay Park
Athletes commit to colleges
little league is a home run
lFD responds to three car fires
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DECEMBER 3 - 9, 2020
Vol. 27 No. 49
Activist is running for village trustee On March 16, Ryder, 52, will contest one of two seats now held by Trustees Michael Hawxhurst, Laura Ryder, a lifelong Lyn- 53, and Hilary Becker, 60. Hawxbrook resident and h u r s t s a i d h e longtime communiplanned to r un ty activist, recently again. announced that she “I enjoy what we planned to run for do together as a the Lynbrook vilteam,” said Hawxlage board of trusthurst, who was ees in March. first elected to the “I think I have a board in 2009. “I lot to offer,” Ryder enjoy the challengsaid. “I’ve been es. This year has very involved withbeen the biggest in the village for challenge we’ve the last two decseen. We’re changades. It’s been more ing strategy day by service-based for lAuRA RyDER day because differour residents, and Lynbrook village board ent requirements I’d like to expand change day by day. on that and maybe candidate We’ve had to have do even more, and I the ability to pivot think being on the village board and make quick decisions, and would enable me to do more of we’ve done that.” that.” Continued on page 15
By MikE SMolliNS msmollins@liherald.com
i
Courtesy Steve Grogan
Promoting Christmas tree safety The Lynbrook Fire Department created a Christmas tree fire safety video, which will air on Lynbrook TV throughout the month. In the film, firefighters extinguish a living room fire sparked by a Christmas tree. Story, more photos, Page 8.
‘I was screaming for my life’
WWII vet turns near-death experience into short film By NiColE AlCiNDoR nalcindor@liherald.com
Lynbrook native Edward Field can still remember Feb. 3, 1945. He was flying in a B-17 bomber toward Nazi Germany when bullets streaked across the sky and struck one of its four engines, draining the aircraft’s fuel tanks. A navigator for the U.S. Army and a second lieutenant, Field said he was crippled with fear as
the plane rapidly descended, landing in the frigid North Sea between England and Holland. He later chronicled this neardeath experience in a poem, which he and his niece, Diane Fredel-Weis, recently crafted into an award-winning short film. After the crash, Field and his crewmembers climbed out of the massive plane, also known as the “Flying Fortress.” As they crawled onto the only emergen-
cy raft, Field quickly realized there was no space for him, and he might freeze to death in the sea. “Before the flight, I read that humans could only survive for 24 minutes in waters at that freezing temperature in February, so I was terrified of dying of hypothermia,” said Field, 96, a Lynbrook native who now lives in New York City in the West VilContinued on page 8
have the ability to start things from scratch and build it up into something from beginning to the end.
Our COvid-19 traCker With the Covid-19 test positivity rate rising across the country, the Herald is adding a weekly coronavirus tracker to the upper-left corner of our front page to help you gauge what’s happening in your area from week to week. the number is an aggregate of the communities that this newspaper covers. data is obtained from the nassau County Covid-19 dashboard, which provides the total number of cases reported in an area since the start of the pandemic, and is updated regularly.