Plainview-Old Bethpage's veterans of the United States Armed Forces joined with residents in honoring the men and women who have given their lives in the defense of our country at the annual Memorial Day Parade, held on Monday, May 29.

Despite predictions of rain and drizzle, a cool and partly cloudy spring day was cast as the backdrop for the holiday festivities. Marchers of all ages paraded from the Central Park Plaza on Old Country Road, along OCR to Manetto Hill Road, and then east on Washington Avenue. It culminated in the Plainview-Old Bethpage Community Park.

During the parade, marchers made a stop outside the Plainview Fire Department on Old Country Road where an American Flag was presented to the Plainview Fire Chief. The flag had flown over the United States Capitol in Washington, DC and was donated by Congressman Peter King.

Community participation in the annual event commemorating the country's fallen soldiers was extraordinary. Spectators lined the parade route cheering the members of the American Legion, Jewish War Veterans and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Al Golisano of Plainview and Councilman Leonard Symons were named the Grand Marshals of the event by the Plainview-Old Bethpage Memorial Day Parade Committee. Golisano is a World War II veteran and past commander of the VFW Post #5942 in Plainview. Through the years he has volunteered much of his time to community events. Symons, the long-time chairman of the parade, was selected in recognition of his community support, activism and tireless service to veterans, children and residents at large.

The parade procession was comprised of a large contingency of children and youth organizations, such as Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops and teams from little league. According to Symons, incorporating the youth of the community is a major component in a parade's success.

"We had a tremendous number of youth organizations in the parade," said Symons. ".... It is a way to link the present with the past...If at a young age the children see that Memorial Day is more than just a day of sales and barbecues, I hope that someday the young people that were there today will be where I am and will take up the cudgel and make sure that Memorial Day is a day of remembrance."

Included in the parade procession was a quilt made by 7th grade students at the Plainview-Old Bethpage Middle School. The quilt bears the names of veterans, living and deceased, from the Plainview-Old Bethpage community who were in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. It is the fourth quilt created by the students of Barbara Nizewitz's Home and Careers class. Any veteran who is not on the quilt and wishes to be, should contact Councilman Symons at 624-6144.

"I think they need to know why they [students] have all the freedoms they have," said Nizewitz. "They should know that we do not have everything that we have for nothing. People had to work for it."

In a short Memorial Day ceremony following the parade, several students from the school district read essays they had written after meeting and talking with veterans from the commuinty. Each spoke of their pride and appreciation of the men they had spoken to.

A special honor was presented to the family of recently deceased Lucian J. Veneziano, a teacher from the Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK High School who died during the past year.