By Kelsey Durham
State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) marked this year’s Memorial Day holiday by honoring a group of war veterans for their service during a ceremony held in Bayside last week.
Five former soldiers who live in Queens were presented with resolutions from the Senate last Friday in honor of their decorated history with the armed forces.
The ceremony was one Avella said he does twice every year to celebrate Memorial and Veterans days as a way of showing support and thanking members of the military who have risked their lives in the name of freedom.
“Every year I try to take the opportunity to thank the men and women who have served in our armed forces,” Avella said. “We would not be the country we are today with their sacrifices and dedication.”
Each year as the two holidays approach, Avella reaches out to northeast Queens organizations and asks for nominations of people he can honor at the small ceremony he holds in his Bayside office. The five who were selected this year consist of four former U.S. Marines — one Korean War veteran and three who served in Vietnam — and a Vietnam War vet of the U.S. Army.
Barnett Cohen, a Brooklyn native who now lives in Flushing, enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve after graduating from high school and served while he was attending Brooklyn College. He was called to active duty during the Korean War in 1950 and served as a Browning Automatic Rifleman at the Infantry Demonstration Training Unit in Quantico, Va., where he taught newly appointed second lieutenants.
Cohen would be promoted to sergeant before being honorably discharged in 1952. He eventually got married and joined the NYPD before moving his family to Queens and is currently a member of Jewish War Veterans Post 764.
“If I had to do it all again, I would,” the 84-year-old Cohen said of his military service. “It was an honor and a privilege to serve and protect this country and I’ll always be ready to do it.”
Jong Soo Park, who was born in Korea, fought alongside U.S. troops in Vietnam while serving with the Republic of Korea Marine “Blue Dragon” Brigade. He fought on the front lines during the Battle of Tra Binh and was honorably discharged in 1976 after a year of service and moved to the United States in 1982, where he opened a grocery store and a restaurant in Queens.
Park now serves as the vice chairman of the Korean Marine Corps Veterans Association.
Vietnam veteran Young Chang Lee was born in Korea and deployed in 1967 to serve alongside the United States as a truck driver with the Republic of Korea Marine “Blue Dragon” Brigade. He retired as a sergeant in 1968 and came to Bayside in 1980, where he opened an auto repair shop.
Lee became vice president of the ROK U.S. Vietnam War Veterans Association in 2012.
Gene McNamara was raised in Bayside and graduated from Benjamin Cardozo High School before joining the Marines in 1974. He was stationed at Camp Hansen in Okinawa, Japan, during the Vietnam War and was eventually honorably discharged and returned to New York to begin a career with the NYPD.
McNamara retired from the police force as a lieutenant and currently serves as the junior vice president of Veterans of Foreign Wars Whitestone Community Post 4787.
“I never thought 40 years later I would get recognition for this,” he said after being honored last week.
The last honoree, Flushing native Nicholas Catalado, joined the Army in 1968 and was deployed to Vietnam in 1969, spending a year as a crew member and helicopter mechanic in the Mekong Delta.
He found work as a printer after returning to Queens and is now a member of Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 32.
After the five honorees were presented with resolutions that will forever remain on record in the Senate, Avella thanked them once more for their sacrifices and said the resolutions would serve as a permanent reminder of those who fought for their country.
“They gave a substantial portion of their lives to serve this country and some of them didn’t come back, which is what Memorial Day is all about,” he said. “At the very least, we have to continue to recognize and say, ‘Thank you for your service.’”
Reach reporter Kelsey Durham at 718-260-4573 or by e-mail at kdurham@cnglocal.com.
