Veterans Day Tribute On North Fork: 'Let Us Honor The Heroes'

SOUTHOLD, NY — A beloved annual tradition unfolded in Southold Thursday as a crowd turned out for a Veterans Day service held at the American Legion's Griswold Terry Glover Post 803.

Commander Charles Sanders of the American Legion reminded those gathered that Veterans Day honors those who have served and are still serving the nation; he also acknowledged Southold's veterans who have worked tirelessly to preserve freedoms.

Those in attendance included veterans, members of the Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps, Scouts, elected officials, and the community.

A new tradition was born in Southold for Veterans Day this year as a 9/11 memorial Swamp White Oak sapling was planted, derived directly from the trees located at the 9/11 memorial in New York City.

A family who lives in New York City, who Sanders named as Noah, Susanne, and Oliver, collected the Swamp White Oak acorns on their daily walks by the World Trade Center Memorial during the pandemic, he explained. "They nurtured the acorns in their apartment and found great meaning in watching them sprout," Sanders said.

Next, in the summer of 2020, they gave a sprout to a North Fork family, Peter, Claire and Jack, who adopted the seedling and nurtured it, before offering it to the American Legion — and the idea for a permanent memorial was conceived, Sanders said.

"Today we will honor two relatives of those that granted us this sapling and going forward, we will honor other veterans each Veteran's Day and add bricks in their name around the growing tree to form a permanent memorial," Sanders said.

The reason the Swamp White Oaks were chosen for the 9/11 Memorial, he said, was that they are native to all three spots impacted by the attacks, including New York City, Virginia, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Also at the ceremony, Sanders paid tribute to fallen heroes Lawrence L. Kranes and Arnold W. Ring.

Speaking to the crowd, Sanders said: "Out of blood and sweat we learned of purpose, sacrifice, tolerance, bravery, and discipline. These are the solid foundation stones upon which a great nation is built. In our continuing quest for an honorable world peace, we must cultivate these virtues."

Robert Scott, a Marine who served during the Vietnam War, also spoke.

"Let us honor the heroes of science who alleviate human suffering and carry to greater heights the standard of human civilization," he said. "Let us honor those in public service who seek not how much they may secure from the nation but how much they can give. Let us honor those veterans who carry into ordinary affairs of life a noble idealism and sincere capacity for self-devotion. Let us translate the devotion of war into a devotion of peace. Let us will to live as well as die for our country."

Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell thanked all who have served. "It's not the Constitution that grants our freedoms, it's the servicemen and women," he said. "You are heroes to us all."

Suffolk County Legislator Al Krupski also thanked the nation's heroes and NJROTC Senior Instructor Major Bill Grigonis for his work with North Fork youth: "To see all these cadets — if that doesn't warm your hearts and make you proud to be an American, I don't know what does."

The Legion's auxiliary representative Priscilla Devine also spoke. "In our constant quest for an honorable world peace, there is a need for unity of purpose if we truly are to move toward a brighter tomorrow," she said.

Sanders also gave a history of the American Legion, chartered by Congress in 1919, with four pillars: veterans affairs and rehabilitation, national security, Americanism, and children and youth.

"Some have paid the ultimate price with their lives and that sacrifice is impossible to pay back — but we can pay tribute to them," Sanders said, as both Taps and the Star-Spangled Banner were played.