Walkway vigil honors nation’s fallen veterans
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. » Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro joined the county’s Director of Veterans’ Services, Marc Coviello, on the Walkway Over the Hudson for a flag retirement ceremony and Memorial Day vigil on Sunday evening.
The ceremony, according to Molinaro, was started several years ago.
“It was begun during the quiet of sundown on Memorial Day eve to acknowledge those men and women that lost their lives in service of this great country,” Molinaro said. The county executive, who is now the Republican nominee for New York state governor, said that the ceremony is a way for the participants and observers “to pause, to remember and acknowledge the service and sacrifice” of those veterans who have perished.
In his address, Molinaro spoke of the fast pace in which society operates nowadays and that the brave men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice did so while fighting for our freedoms. He implored attendees to “slow down a bit and enjoy the freedoms” paid for by those who gave their lives.
Members of the American Legion Post 739 in Pleasant Valley joined members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6534 in Highland to retire the existing flag on the Walkway and present it to Dottie Bellachio and her son, Jack, on behalf of Dottie’s late husband, Jack. The late Jack Bellachio was a soldier in the U.S. Army and served in Vietnam shortly after enlisting in 1964.
Coviello spoke of the many commendations and medals that had been awarded to the elder Bellachio, including for his heroics in rescuing fellow soldiers whose helicopter had been shot down during a mission during the war.
The elder Jack Bellachio was awarded the Purple Heart Medal and had been inducted into the Purple Heart Hall of Fame in New Windsor in 2012. An active member of the Highland Veterans of Foreign Wars Post, he died in 2017.