When the Rainbow Division monument in Garden City was dedicated in 1941, the memory of Camp Albert Mills was less than 25 years in the recent past. Many Garden City residents most likely held vivid memories of soldiers, military hubbub and the strains of bugles filling the air.

This past Veterans Day, it is unlikely that anyone attending the monument rededication remembered the camp that inspired the monument, although a surprising number recalled being taken as children to the dedication 63 years ago.

The fading of memory, which Douglas MacArthur referred to when he addressed the Rainbow Division veterans in 1935, makes it all the more important to take time out, every so often, and awaken Long Islanders to the history and the heritage of the neighborhoods in which they live and work.

More than 300 people from Amityville to Valley Stream, and from Glen Cove to Massapequa, turned out to honor the memory of the men who assembled in Garden City 87 years ago on their journey to fight for America in The War To End All Wars.

All of us involved in organizing this historic event were heartened by the sizable and respectful attendance at the monument rededication. At the same time, we were all disheartened by the sparse participation of Nassau County middle school students in an essay contest, with cash prizes, that was held in connection with the rededication ceremony.

If the students appear to be so uninterested in their past, and are not motivated to pursue it, we can only imagine how the memory of the Rainbow Division, World War I, and, indeed, all our history, will fare in the future.

George Haber

Co-organizer, Rainbow Division Monument Rededication