Community Corner

Memorial Day Parade Honors Heroes

After morning showers threaten, annual Memorial Day parade goes off without a hitch as town honors wounded Marine.

Huntington's annual Memorial Day parade went off without a hitch Monday as hundreds gathered along the parade route to honor fallen veterans and a local hero.

Led by Marine 1st Lt. James Byler, the grand marshal of the parade, 29 groups participated in the event to honor fallen veterans.

Byler, wounded in a bomb blast in Afghanistan last year, rode in the parade in a 1963 Mercury Marquis convertible before taking a position at the review stand with his parents and brother, an Army officer.

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Parade organizers from the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1469, were worried as thunderstorms threatened the event's start.

"The weather gave me a few more grey hairs than I already have, said the VFW's Albert Jensen, organizer of the parade. "The organization was 99.9 percent done by this morning, the rain just put a knot in my stomach."

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Choosing Byler was not a difficult decision, according to Jensen. "He made an extreme sacrifice for his country. It was an easy pick."

Byler is a graduate of Huntington High School and Purdue University.

By 10 a.m. Monday, the rain passed and the parade was on. Forming at the Big H shopping center on New York Avenue, volunteers, floats, a wide variety of vehicles and marching bands lined up before the parade began at 11:30 a.m.

Traveling north on New York Avenue to West Carver Street, the parade made a turn onto Green Street then north to Main Street. It traveled east past the reviewing stand before ending near the . 

Serving their second detail of the day, the Huntington Detachment of the Marine Corps League was there to remember service members who gave all.

"The worst thing that can happen to a veteran is to be forgotten," said unit commandant Bill Ober. "Memorial Day is a time to remember the sacrifices of those that went before us."

The Order of the Ancient and Honorable , a living history organization,  turned out in uniforms and rifles resembling those used by 17th century Long Island veterans.

"Members are portraying people who lived in this town and marched off to the battle of Brooklyn and gave their lives," said Robert Amborse, commander of militia.

Laura Pazzini of Huntington, seated on a Main Street bench with a group of family and friends, said she arrived at 10:30 a.m. for a seat to honor veterans.

She said it was worth the wait.

"We are roasting to death but it's ok, it's the start of the summer,"  Pazzini said.

At the event was  Herbert Morrow, Huntington Town Board members Susan Berland, Glenda Jackson, Mark Mayoka and Frank Petrone, Asharoken Mayor Patricia Irving, Assemb. James Conte, R-Huntington Station, and Suffok County Majority Leader Jon Cooper, D-Lloyd Harbor.

Included in the parade were marching bands, veterans groups, dozens of boy and girl scouts, fire and police units, a number of floats and representatives from local organizations.  

While leading his platoon of Third Battalion, 5th Marines, Byler was injured after stepping backward on an improvised explosive device in Northern Helmand Province.


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