Levittown Community Church Pays Tribute To Local Veterans

This Veterans Day, the Levittown Community Church held a musical extravaganza in tribute to those who have served this country in our Armed Forces.

The evening was filled with patriotic songs performed by parish members young and old, praising Levittown's men and women in uniform.

The inspiration for the evening's Veterans tribute came from a song by a local musician, said Joanne Terrell, church secretary.

"We read an article in the paper about a man named Pat Seminario," said Terrell. "He's a local Levittown man who wrote a song called 'Freedom's Cry', and it turns out that his music teacher is our church organist. I thought it would be a great idea to get Pat to perform here for our Veterans."

"Pat couldn't come, but he sent his CD, and we'll be playing it later," Terrell added. "But that's where the whole evening was inspired from."

In addition to musical numbers, representatives from several organizations that assist Veterans were on hand, including America's VetDogs, Soldier's Angels, The Wounded Warriors Project and The Soldiers Project.

Rev. Joseph Cusack, pastor of the church, hopes to make the Veterans tribute concert an annual event.

"We heard Pat Seminario's song and were inspired by it," he said. "This is a town that was built by Veterans, for Veterans, and this is a community church, based in the community, for the community. So it's just natural for us to want to honor our Veterans. So this is just the beginning of something that I hope will become bigger and bigger."

Cusack was filled with pride over how well the evening went.
 
"I think, for our first effort, I think it was excellent," he said. "I think everyone just did so much work; everybody did an excellent job. There were about 100 people involved, and I'm just so proud of them."

Bob Koenig, vice president of the Levittown Community Council and board member of the Levittown Historical Society, was thankful for the chance to gave back to those who scarificed so much for their country.

"I'm a member of this church," said Koenig. "And it's such an honor to live in a town that was founded for Veterans. This was built for the Veterans to come here--how much more American can you get? To know that, after 60 years of this community being here, you can still do something to appreciate the founding of it and the country, it's an honor to be here."

Marine Commander John Gonzalez, a prisoner of war in Vietnam, clearly felt the love and appreciation his community aimed to convey that night.

"This is a great tribute; Rev. Joe is a member of my post, and he invited me," said Gonzalez. "I was a prisoner of war for about seven months. I was kept in a hole in my pajamas, and I thank the troops that came and liberated me."

Tom DiIorio, who served in the U.S. Army from 1966 to 1969, found the evening to be a very emotional affair.

"I think that this community has gotten together for many years and stood behind American Veterans," said DiIorio, a tear welling up in his eye. "But as far as feeling warm and welcome, this is probably the finest I've had in 40 years since I've returned from Vietnam. This is just a wonderful, wonderful evening."

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