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COURIER L 2 IFE, JUNE 4-10, 2021
Brooklyn honors
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Hundreds of Brooklynites
paid their respects to veterans
and those who died fighting
for the United States on
Memorial Day.
At least two separate
events honored the fallen
heroes in the borough Monday,
including the 154th Memorial
Day Parade and Motorcade
in Bay Ridge which
drew dozens of spectators
from Kings County and beyond
along its route, according
to one of the organizers.
“The best thing was riding
along seeing all the
people from Bay Ridge and
Brooklyn along the parade
route,” said Raymond Aalbue,
the chairman of the parade
and executive director
of United Military Veterans
of Kings County.
After a paired-down version
of the event in 2020 due
to the pandemic, the parade
was back in full force this
year, with a motorcade down
Third Avenue. The drive was
followed by a wreath laying
at the Brooklyn Veterans Affairs
hospital at Poly Place,
and a memorial service at
nearby John Paul Jones
Park, where veterans raised
the American flag.
“This year we had a crowd,
this year we were back to normal,”
said Aalbue, who served
in the Air Force in Okinawa,
Japan, and Korea in the late
1960s.
A special fl oat was dedicated
to Brooklyn’s veterans
services organization,
to raise awareness for the
groups, he said.
The parade, run completely
by veterans, was founded just
after the end of the Civil War
with its fi rst iteration in 1867
on Eastern Parkway, and it is
considered the oldest continuously
running Memorial Day
parade in a large city in the
nation.
It was held at Eastern Parkway
until 1985, followed by a
brief tenure on Prospect Park
West, and moved to Bay Ridge
more than 30 years ago due to
the neighborhood’s proximity
to US Army Garrison Fort
Hamilton.
On the other side of the
borough, veterans and their
families held a tribute at the
Brooklyn War Memorial at
Cadman Park, with several
speakers, including one Seymour
Kaplan, who helped liberate
the Dachau concentration
camp in Germany during
World War II, according to the
event’s organizer.
“It puts a lot of things in
perspective,” said Cadman
Park Conservancy President
Doreen Gallo.
Kaplan showed off memorabilia
from his tour in the
European theatre, including
a German soldier’s dagger,
and the elder veteran related
a story of when he snuck out
a bowl from Adolf Hitler’s
home.
“His manner, he’s just this
delightful person, despite
speaking about these horrible
things,” said Gallo of Kaplan.
“I feel very privileged to be
with these people and share
their stories.”
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