Port honors fallen heroes at Memorial Day parade

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Port Washington Boulevard to Main Street, concluded at the Sousa Memorial Bandshell with a commemorative service.

Since the Bandshell’s opening in 1967, Port Washington community members have gathered there for nearly every Memorial Day.

A member of the American Legion sang “America the Beautiful” with the Schreiber High School band, as many people from the crowd joined in on the song.

American Legion 509 adjutant Paul Oleksiw thanked the community members for joining them in their honoring of veterans, saying it is their responsibility to remember their service and the sacrifices they made.

“Those veterans were like us,” Oleksiw said. “They were ordinary American citizens. But through their selfless defense of our country, they became extraordinary by the virtue of their service, but more importantly their sacrifice… Let us not allow their lives and their sacrifices to be in vain.”

Veterans of Foreign Wars Chaplain John Chalker recited the World War I poem “In Flanders Fields” by poet John McCrae.

“In Flanders fields the poppies blow between the crosses, row on row, that mark our place; and in the sky the larks, still bravely singing, fly scarce heard amid the guns below,” Chalker recited.

The ceremony ended with a moment of silence for the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars members who died the past year.

Six shots, two from each of the three guns, were fired above Manhasset Bay in a gun salute for all of the fallen soldiers. The ceremony concluded with a performance of “Taps” by a trumpet player from the high school band as the American flag was raised from half-staff.