CULINARY PERFECTION

IS COMING TO Sands New York

Where would you like to dine tonight? At one of New York’s trend-setting establishments like Rao’s, Jean-Georges, or estiatorio Milos? Or possibly the culinary creations of celebrity chefs like Lorena Garcia and Tetsuya Wakuda will be more to your palette’s delight. Whatever exceptional culinary experience you can imagine, you’ll fnd it at the Sands’ planned Long Island destination resort.

Combined with the local restaurant scene, the Sands New York culinary experience will transform Long Island to a must-experience dining destination. Plus, Sands New York’s fvestar concierge service will be directing visitors to local restaurants, bars and attractions, beneftting the entire region.

going to the VA Center in Babylon to receive services and meet up with his friends. A friend at the center signed Taylor and other veterans at the center up for the Honor Flight journey before the pandemic, and this has been the first flight since.

Taylor hopes to meet more veterans through the experience of visiting the World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War memorials; Arlington National Cemetery for a Changing of the Guard; the Air Force Memorial; and the Iwo Jima Memorial.

“I’m looking forward to it because I don’t know how I’m going to react,” he said, “because 57,000 people’s names are on that wall -- that’s a lot of people that died and for what, for what purpose, because we ended up just leaving and we were supposed to stop the Communists from coming in. Soon as we left, that was it, it was over … everyone who died, they had mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, aunts and uncles and they all went through that loss.”

When Taylor and other Vietnam veterans returned home, they weren’t given the appreciation for their service other veterans had received, which Taylor didn’t notice until the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans received praise. He said, “I didn’t begrudge them of that, but I felt that I wasn’t appreciated, so maybe this flight will make me feel that I was appreciated, and it was all worthwhile.”

Taylor has noticed a stigma some veterans feel when obtaining mental health services but says for a few years now that stigma has tapered off. “Guys, sometimes they get depressed, but thank God for Wednesdays,” he said. “We go there and it’s very helpful.”

Looking back on his service, Taylor said, “I would do it all over again, just for the friendships that I made and the closeness, I’ve never felt that close to anybody before. Even friends at home, you know, it was a different kind of friendship. … You feel closer to people over there because everyone depends on each other, everybody has to have each other’s back.”