‘An especially poignant’ Memorial Day for state
N.Y. honors the war dead and victims of the COVID-19 pandemic
New Yorkers marked Memorial Day with car convoys and small ceremonies instead of big parades as the coronavirus reshaped the solemn holiday, blending tributes to virus victims and frontline workers with the traditional remembrance of the nation’s war dead.
In a year that marks the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, veterans wore masks and saluted while standing at social-distancing intervals at observances shrunk by virus precautions.
At the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in Manhattan — the former aircraft carrier USS Intrepid — Gov. Andrew Cuomo honored both veterans and essential workers on a Memorial Day he called “especially poignant and powerful.”
In Rochester, officials looked ahead to the construction of the city’s War on Terror Memorial. In Long Island’s Nassau County, a small group of veterans in masks saluted f lag-bedecked vehicles at a car parade and wreath-laying that was closed to the public but streamed online.
In Brooklyn, about 30 to 40 cars, including an old-style checkered cab, rode along the route usually covered by marchers at the United Military Veterans of Kings County parade.
They finished by circling a Veterans Affairs hospital, many honking their horns, and laying a wreath near monuments at the hospital’s fence.
“We weren’t sure if we were going to be able to do anything,” said parade chairman Raymond Aalbue.
But he said he didn’t want the parade “to die on my watch.”
He said this year’s Memorial Day observance also honored people working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 virus fight.
“All day long we’re thinking about these health care workers and first responders and essential workers who are putting their lives on the line, daily, and have been doing that for a couple of months now to keep us safe,” said Allbue.
“We owe them a very deep debt of gratitude for all they’ve done all these months.”
Elsewhere in the borough, Mayor Bill de Blasio joined a wreath-laying at the Brooklyn War Memorial. The Democratic mayor said it was “a different kind of Memorial Day, but our appreciation for the heroes who gave their lives for our country has never been stronger.”
As the holiday approached, Cuomo loosened coronavirusrelated restrictions last week to allow small public gatherings — initially just for Memorial Day observances and religious services.
He extended the eased rules Friday to all gatherings after the New York Civil Liberties Union sued, saying that if it was safe to gather to honor veterans and practice religion, the Constitution requires the same right be extended to other gatherings.
The rules now allow gettogethers of as many as 10 people, provided that participants stay at least 6 feet away from one another or cover their faces when unable to maintain that distance.