East Hampton Memorial Day Parade Schedule

East Hampton’s Memorial Day Parade and Remembrance Ceremonies will be held on Monday, May 28. 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 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 Matthew Chiu, with the Echo performed by Shannon Law.

The Parade will step off following the conclusion of the Ceremony. Lawrence (“Larry”) Emmons, a Korean War Era Veteran will serve as Grand Marshall and Everett Wright, a WWII and Korean 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 Laurie Allen, 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 Lasser performing the duties of Drum Majors.

Our guest speaker is Staff Sergeant Alicia M. Valli. Alicia entered active military service with the Connecticut Army National Guard in 2002 after graduating from East Hampton High School. She served with the 1109^th AVCRAD as a UH-60 Blackhawk Helicopter Repairer and Avionics Mechanic, supporting over 70 aviation units in the North Eastern United States. She served two consecutive tours at Camp Humphrey’s in South Korea in 2004 & 2005 and shortly after returning, was deployed to Gulfport, Miss., to provide post Hurricane Katrina support. She was deployed in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom in 2008, spending much of her deployment in Kuwait. In addition to her military service, she is employed as a Federal Technician with the 1109^th AVCRAD.

During the Ceremony, the East Hampton High School and Middle School bands will perform a variety of musical selections. Blake Szkoda will recite the Gettysburg Address, Molly Maturo will read the poem “In Flanders’ Field,” and Evan Cohen 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 Laurie Allen, 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.