'They Answered The Call': Tribute To Fallen At LI Memorial Day Service

NORTH FORK, NY — The North Fork community turned out in force on Memorial Day to pay solemn tribute to the fallen.

The 2023 Town of Southold Memorial Day Parade was hosted by Mattituck American Legion post 861. A ceremony and presentation of dignitaries took place at the monument located in front of Post 861 on Wickham Avenue in Mattituck; a parade followed.

Post 861 Commander Rob DeVito led the ceremony, discussing the meaning of Memorial Day, which was originally called Decoration Day; the holiday was founded in 1917 and marked on May 30. In 1971, the holiday's name was changed by an act of Congress to Memorial Day and the date moved to the last Monday in May, he said.

Commander DeVito also remembered the 117,466 American lives lost in World War I, the 419,400 lost in World War II, the 36,516 lost in the Korean War and the 58,200 lost in the Vietnam War. And, he noted the thousands of those still missing in action today, some still being found with "dog tags on their skeletal remains."

He also told stories of "self-sacrifice, bravery, and courage," including a family during World War II that lived in the Midwest who lost five sons when the USS Juneau was torpedoed and sunk off the Guadalcanal.

"Just imagine if you are a parent, getting a telegram from the War Department telling you that all five of your sons were killed," he said.

In another story of unthinkable loss, four chaplains died together during WWII aboard the Dorchester, which was torpedoed; the four gave up their life jackets to save others. According to accounts, they were seen "huddled" together and "perished," DeVito said.

On Long Island in 1944, a squadron flying a B-24 Army Liberator Bomber was faced with a fierce snow storm in Mattituck, while heading to what is now the 106th Air Rescue Wing in Westhampton Beach. Eleven men died that night, all between the ages of 18 and 37, Devito said.

Another North Fork local, Russell Penny, was killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor, he said.

"We must always be grateful for true Americans who paid the ultimate sacrifice," DeVito said.

Rep. Nick LaLota, whose family's roots in military service run deep and who served himself for eight years in the Navy, thanked parents who brought their children, instilling in them the true meaning of the day. "Patriotism is alive, well, and proud in Southold," he said.

Suffolk County Legislator Al Krupski said he couldn't help but be struck by the beauty of the day and the bucolic North Fork setting. "We can't take for granted what we have here," he said. "There are places in the world where you can't assemble like this. We can never forget the sacrifices made so we can enjoy these freedoms with our families."

Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell also paid heartfelt tribute: "I ask all of us to remember that historically, we have had our liberty and our freedom challenged. We didn't have 24-hour cable. We didn't have social media. What we had was perhaps some grainy video, perhaps some photographs."

He added: "But most important, we had the stories of the service members who came home and told us about the heroism of those that didn't come home. We must listen to them. It's an important part of history. The service members who readied their ships, or guided their planes or raised their weapons, thought of their families as they rushed into the fires of hell to fight evil, where it resided, only to never return. They were not defeated. Their sacrifice was not in vain. Their heroism resulted in the protection, the liberty and the freedom of the greatest country on earth. Today, let us remember their sacrifice and their heroism. They answered the call when our country needed them, unflinchingly and without hesitation, heroes each and every one."

A patriotic parade followed, with crowds waving flags and cheering. This year's parade also included a tribute to Southold's Dylan Newman, 18, who died in 2022 after a battle with a rare cancer.

Those marching in Dylan's memory or riding in his signature green vehicle, with its "Forevr 5" license plate, wore his trademark green and carried signs with both his team number and the words "Dylan Newman forever."

Dylan's father Todd Newman told Patch that the parade marked the first for the Forever 5 Foundation. "It was a combination of friends and family walking today to keep Dylan's Forever 5 memory alive," he said.