101 Former Residents of Larchmont and Mamaroneck Honored at Kemper Memorial Park

As traffic hummed by on Mamaroneck Avenue, civic leaders and veterans held a somber, reflective Memorial Day Ceremony at Richard M. Kemper Park outside the high school, attended by around 60 people including organizers.

Edward Murray, Commander, American Legion Post 90, served as master of ceremonies of sorts, keeping the hour-long event moving along. A trio of singers, Joel Robbins—Marianne Cantor and Michael Cantor—started “The Star-Spangled Banner” on a high note, but the participants raised their pitches accordingly and performed a passable rendition.

Richard Cantor—the nephew of the park's namesake—spoke about the battle to save the park from being moved a few years ago. He and his family gathered signatures on a petition to back a preservation bill that is now before the New York State General Assembly that would designate all war memorials in the state as parks. With that protection, the only way to transfer park land is through a vote in the state legislature.

“That way, if a town was hurting and wanted the tax revenue, they can’t hand the land over to a developer to build a mall,” said Marianne Cantor.

At Kemper Memorial Park, the school district proposed moving the memorial to make way for parking, which caused a row. The monument’s tablet is engraved with the names of 101 residents of Larchmont and Mamaroneck who died in World War II, many of them in an eight month period of fierce fighting.

Speaking to the crowd, Town of Mamaroneck Supervisor Valerie O’Keeffe pointed toward her office window, telling them that she often looked out on the lofty trees around the memorial that were supposed to be rotten, but continued to stand proudly.

She said: “This is a holy place as far as I’m concerned, which is symbolic of the respect people have for things that are sacred to this country.”

Mayor Norman Rosenbaum reminded the gathering that “freedom isn’t free” and Mayor Josh Mandell of Larchmont noted that to live the American Dream, “no matter how stressed out we are in daily life, we rest easy for the night because brave men and women do not.”

Mamaroneck School Board President Ralph Marsico spoke about how easy it was to take the fallen soldiers for granted just like many Americans take freedom of speech, freedom of religion and trail by jury for granted.

Burt Corwin, Commander, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 1156 reminded attendees of the origins of Memorial Day in the post-Civil War ritual called Decoration Day and School Superintendent Robert Shaps spoke about the importance of having such a memorial on school grounds.

Richard Cantor made the distinction between Memorial Day, which commemorates those who died while in service, and Veteran’s Day, which honors the survivors. He evoked the words of Abraham Lincoln when he told the crowd that, “the best way to honor veterans is to take care of their fallen comrades.”

The event ended with the performance of military honors, including placing wreaths and grave marker flags and calling the roll of honor from the World War II memorial. After a six-gun salute from the Color Guard, Mamaroneck Avenue School music teacher Steph Chinn played taps.