East Hampton Memorial Day Parade & Ceremonies

East Hampton’s Memorial Day Parade and Remembrance Ceremonies will be held on Monday, May 27, 2013. The Parade will assemble at the East Hampton High School parking lot at 8:30 a.m. A Remembrance Ceremony will be held at 9:00 a.m. in front of Fowler-Dix-Park VFW Post 5095. A gun salute by the VFW Post 5095 Color Guard will be followed by Taps, delivered by Shannon Law, with the Echo performed by Bryan Hurlburt. The Parade will step off following the conclusion of the Ceremony. Robert Schneider, a Korean War Veteran will serve as Grand Marshall and Bernie Begin, a Vietnam War Veteran, will serve as Parade Marshall. A fly-over is scheduled over Route 66 at approximately 9:30 a.m. The Parade will pause at Lakeview Cemetery where Allison Leue, Fowler-Dix-Park Ladies Auxiliary 5095 Chaplain, will offer a prayer in honor of our deceased Veterans. Taps and Echo will follow a gun salute by the VFW Color Guard. Following the conclusion of the Parade in East Hampton’s town center, a Remembrance Ceremony will be held on the lawn of the East Hampton Congregational Church, led by Lou Carillo, President of the East Hampton Veterans Association. The National Anthem will be performed by the East Hampton High School Band, under the direction of Andrew Groves, Music Director, with Eric Llaser performing the duties of Drum Majors. Our Guest Speaker is Navy Seabee Christopher Abbott. Christopher entered Active Military Service with the Navy in 2008. He served with the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 7 after completing A-school in Texas, providing convoy security and serving as a Range Coach. During a Peacetime Deployment in 2009, Christopher performed construction duties on a military base in Spain. He was then sent on detachments to Morocco, Guyana, Honduras and Suriname where he constructed buildings, repaired and performed updates to an Indian Hostel, and even built a playground for an elementary school. In January of 2011, Christopher deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan where he escorted over 60 convoys of Navy and Army construction supplies over 5,000 miles within Kandahar Province and beyond. He was honorably discharged in September of 2012. He is presently attending Middlesex Community College, working on a Criminal and Justice Degree. During the Ceremony, the East Hampton High School and Middle School bands will perform a variety of musical selections. Madeline Martinez will recite the Gettysburg Address, Jennifer Pionzio will read the poem “In Flanders’ Field”, and Joshua Chasseau will ruffle drums during the reading of the past year’s names of deceased Veterans. Ron Christopher from the VFW Post will deliver the Prayer for the Deceased Veterans and Allison Leue, Auxiliary Chaplain, will deliver the Benediction. The Ladies Auxiliary to VFW Post 5095 will offer refreshments to all Parade participants following the conclusion of the ceremony.