By Helen Klein
From the Narrows to Jamaica Bay, patriotic Brooklynites will be putting their best foot forward in tribute to American heroes past and present at Memorial Day parades this year. Three parades are scheduled around the borough – in Bay Ridge, Canarsie and Gerritsen Beach – for Monday, May 30th. The Bay Ridge parade, which is sponsored by the United War Veterans of Kings County, will kick off at 11 a.m. at Third Avenue and 79th Street. The marchers will proceed along Third Avenue to Marine Avenue, then along Marine Avenue to John Paul Jones Park at 101st Street and Fourth Avenue, where the ceremonies will take place, at approximately 12:30 p.m. The ceremonies will include the laying of a wreath, the raising of the flag, the playing of taps and a 21-gun salute by the United States Army Garrison Salute Battery. The grand marshal of the parade, which has been held for 138 years and is the oldest continuously-held parade in the United States, will be Assistant Chief Joseph F.X. Cunneen, the commanding officer of Patrol Borough Brooklyn North. Cunneen, an Army veteran, served in Vietnam. The reviewing officer will be the commanding officer of Fort Hamilton, Colonel Tracey Nicholson. Ray Aalbue, the public affairs officer at Fort Hamilton, said that, for those who have difficulty walking the entire route, vehicles will be available. In addition, he said, the Xaverian High School and New York Police Department Auxiliary bands will perform. Approximately 3,000 people are expected to march in the parade, Aalbue said, including members of local civic organizations, members of the Boy and Girl Scouts, and members of numerous veterans groups – including the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, the Catholic War Veterans (who will lead the parade), the Jewish War Veterans, the Korean War Veterans, the Vietnam Veterans of America, Rolling Thunder, and the Nam Knights. The Canarsie Memorial Day Parade is scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. at the American Legion Hall at Conklin Avenue and East 92nd Street. The marchers will proceed from there to Rockaway Parkway, where they will turn right and continue to Avenue M, making a right and proceeding to Remsen Avenue, where they will make a right again, stopping at Canarsie Cemetery for a moment of silence, before returning to the American Legion Hall for a memorial and a meal. According to Carlton Richardson, chairperson of the parade committee, among the participants in the parade will be the Black Cowboys Association, the New Utrecht High School Marching Band, representatives of the Coast Guard recruiting station and the Marine Corps recruiting station, the Boy and Girl Scouts, EMS, the Fire Department of New York, and the 69th Precinct and auxiliaries and Explorers, as well as local civic organizations. “We had 300 or 400 people last year,” recalled Richardson, who stressed, “We are trying to let it grow.” One change, said Richardson, is holding the Canarsie Cemetery ceremony prior to the parade’s commencement. The day will begin, he said, with a ceremony at Canarsie Pier at 10 a.m., said Richardson, with the ceremony at the cemetery’s Civil War Memorial scheduled to take place at 10:40 a.m. The Gerritsen Beach Memorial Day Parade will kick off at 10 a.m. at Plumb 2nd Street and Whitney Avenue. The route will take marchers from there across Gerritsen Avenue, over to Burnett Street and Whitney Avenue, for a stop at the VFW Memorial, where a wreath is laid, taps is played and sharpshooters fire off three shots. From the memorial, marchers will proceed back to Gerritsen Avenue and over to St. James Church, where there is a World War II memorial in the garden, and from there over to the E.J. Matthews Knights of Columbus Hall, for stops at a memorial to two area residents who died in action during the Vietnam War and a memorial to the victims of 9/11. The event, noted Reverend ElizaBeth Nebrasky, the pastor of St. James, brings the community together. “Every year,” she recalled, “the people of Gerritsen Beach are all involved in it. There are people from the VFW post, people from my congregation and from Resurrection Church, usually the Girls Scouts from P.S. 277 and St. James, the Boy Scouts, the girl swimmers and twirlers from Resurrection. In years past, the Sunday School has marched in the parade, baby carriages and all. It’s just a regular home town parade.” Other participants, said Nebrasky, include the Gerritsen Beach property owners, the Gerritsen Beach Volunteer Ambulance and Gerritsen Beach Cares. Once this year’s parade is history, said Nebrasky, planning is going to begin for next year, when the monument in the garden at St. James turns 60. “We are going to do something special,” she said.
