ACTIVE-DUTY MILITARY TO PARTICIPATE IN MEMORIAL DAY OBSERVANCES IN RIVERSIDE PARK

Commander and Chaplain Rabbi Melinda Zalma stands with Peter Galasinao, Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Association President at a previous Memorial Day ceremony in Riverside Park. Photo by Jake Sigal.

The West Side Federation of Neighborhood & Block Associations sent out notice of this year’s Memorial Day observances, which coincide with Fleet Week:

This year the annual Soldiers’ & Sailors’ Memorial Day Observance will be held on Monday, May 29, 2017 from 10 A.M. to 12 Noon on 89th Street & Riverside Drive in Riverside Park.

In conjunction with New York Fleet Week, active duty Sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen will also participate. At 10:00 am, the United States Navy Band will perform a musical prelude.

The Procession sets off at 10:30 am, led by the New York Scottish Pipes and Drums, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War in period uniforms, and the Veteran Corps of Artillery. In addition, there will be numerous dignitaries and elected officials joining us at this ceremony.

The West Side Federation is proud to have been the first community organization to provide seed money to help support the renovation of the Soldiers’ & Sailors’ Monument project – and we continue to help this effort.

A destroyer in the Hudson this week. Photo by Jake Sigal.

The United War Veterans Council listed observances throughout the city:

• Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument Memorial Day Ceremony, Monday, May 29. Begins 10:00 a.m., the annual Memorial Day Commemoration Ceremony will take place at Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument at Riverside Park & W. 89th St., Manhattan. This year’s event will commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Midway. Event is free and open to the public.

• 150^th Kings County Memorial Day Parade, Monday, May 29. UWVC participates in one of the oldest Memorial Day parades in the nation, which begins 11:00 a.m. at 78^th St. & 3^rd Ave. in Brooklyn, followed by a memorial service and wreath-laying ceremony at John Paul Jones Park.

• Black Veterans for Social Justice (BVSJ) Memorial Day Parade, Monday, May 29.  Parade’s participants begin arriving at 10:00 am at Restoration Plaza on Fulton St., Brooklyn. Parade will process up Marcy Ave. at 12:00 pm, turning onto Willoughby Ave. to end at BVSJ headquarters at 665 Willoughby Ave. (bet. Throop & Marcus Garvey Blvd.).

• Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade, Monday, May 29.  Participants are to gather at 1:00 pm and the parade kicks off at 2:00 p.m. at Jayson Ave. /Northern Blvd. in Queens. Prior to the parade at 10:00 am, there will be an interfaith service at St. Anastasia Church at 45-14 245^th St. Immediately after the service, a wreath-laying ceremony will take place near the monument in the Divine Wisdom Catholic Academy schoolyard. At 11:30 am there will a Veterans breakfast located at Father Smith Hall in the Divine Wisdom Catholic Academy schoolyard. The closing ceremony will take place at St. Anastasia Church’s outdoor parking lot from 3:30 to 5:00 pm.

• City Island Memorial Day Parade, Monday, May 29. Parade begins 1:45 p.m. at City Island Ave. & Belden St. Prior to the parade, UWVC will participate in two wreath-laying ceremonies in the area: the first, 10:30 a.m. at Bicentennial Veteran Memorial Park (Throgs Neck Expressway at Pennyfield and Elisworth Aves.); and the second, 11:15 a.m. at Throgs Neck Memorial Post – American Legion (1456 Shore Dr.).