'They gave the last full measure of devotion'

By Roger Gavan
WARWICK — With bright sunlight and clear skies temperatures rose above 80 as hundreds of members of veterans' groups, their guests and other organizations participated in the 2015 annual Memorial Day ceremonies.

After the traditional parade down Main Street numerous groups and honored guests joined the veterans in ceremonies held at Warwick Cemetery, St. Stephen's Cemetery and Veterans Memorial Park.

'The ultimate sacrifice'
The Grand Marshal for this year was Lt. Colonial Peter Riley, Task Force Commander of Empire Shield, whose primary goal is to detect, deter, and prevent potential terrorist operations in the New York City Metropolitan Area.

Riley is a Warwick resident and a member of American Legion Post 214

Members of Warwick's well-known Stewart family of military servicemen marched with the color guard followed by local officials, veterans and other organizations.

At Warwick Cemetery American Legion Post 214 Commander Laura Smykla conducted ceremonies, which began with an invocation by the Rev. Jim Erwin, rector of Christ Episcopal Church.

Then, in a quiet and touching moment, and assisted by Navy veteran Ed Hodas, Chaplain Bob Ritzer read the names of all the comrades who had past away since last year's ceremonies.

Girl Scout Sabrina Rice related the history of playing TAPS and Troop 45 Eagle Scout Tim Snyder read President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.

Riley, who served in Iraq, thanked all his fellow veterans including Cold War veterans and comrades, who could not be here because he said, "They gave the ultimate sacrifice."

'Caroline is at peace'
Warwick Mayor Newhard mentioned many of the preparations throughout Warwick that had been made for this day in tribute to all the veterans for service to their country and gave a special tribute to Caroline Lesandro, who passed away last year. She was a Gold Star mother and the wife of American Legion Post Legionnaire Nicholas Lesandro.

The post is named after their son Nicholas P. Lesandro Jr. who was killed in Vietnam.

"Caroline is at peace," he said, "reunited with her husband and her two sons."

Town of Warwick Supervisor Michael Sweeton said that we often think of the sacrifices of our military in terms of numbers but that we need to humanize the losses to remember that many would not have the opportunity to marry, raise children or attend graduations and the like.

"We did get that chance," he said, "and we got it because of them."

Warwick Town Justice Peter Barlet, a familiar figure at veterans' events, said, "There can be no greater sacrifice than the one given by those who have died defending our country, and there can be no greater loss."

1,600 flags
Past Post 215 Commander Walt Parkinson continued a tradition he began years ago by walking over to the youngsters, scouts and scout leaders gathered in the cemetery to teach them the importance of remembering our veterans.

He impressed on his young audience the seriousness of the sacrifices members of the military have made and how they continued to serve their communities long after their military service was completed. He urged his young audience to follow their example.

Recalling their recent assistance with the placement of more than ,1600 flags at local cemeteries, he said "You're learning this as Scouts and you've already helped us."

The final guest speaker was Orange County Legislator Barry Cheney who read a Congressional proclamation from Representative Sean Maloney.

Ceremonies
VFW Post 4662 services, conducted by Mike Aiello, included the laying of wreaths at the VFW monument.

The ceremonies at Warwick Cemetery concluded with a riffle salute, the playing of Taps and a final benediction by Erwin.

They were followed by services at St. Stephen's Cemetery, conducted by the Rev. Jack Arlotta, pastor of the Church of St. Stephen, the First Martyr.

The parade then continued down Forester Avenue to the Firemen's Monument at Veterans Memorial Park where members of the Warwick Volunteer Fire Department conducted a memorial service and invocation by the Rev. Angelo Micciulla, the fire department chaplain.

Editor's note: The headline from this story is taken from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.