“For the first time in about eight or nine years we had some nice weather,” said East Hampton’s Veterans of Foreign Wars Post Commander William Mott, at the Memorial Day ceremony at Hook Mill Monday morning. “And Father Creamer told me he arranged it,” he added.
With the sun shining, the day’s celebrations began with the annual Lost at Sea memorial at Main Beach in East Hampton, where a wreath was placed in the water to honor service members who had died at sea. That was followed by the parade down Main Street, where veterans, firefighters, and local elected officials marched from the Presbyterian Church to Hook Mill.
The parade was led by a color guard of veterans, followed by other veterans in vehicles and the East Hampton High School band, which played “You’re a Grand Old Flag” under the direction of Christopher Mandato. Later at Hook Mill, the band played “America the Beautiful” and the national anthem.
Little League players marched as well, taking their seats on the hill near the mill afterward to listen to the speakers. Behind them, a contingent organized by the East Hampton Library carried signs bearing the names of all 101 East Hampton residents who have died in service. tribute was the result of research by Dennis Fabiszak, executive director of the library, his staff, members of the V.F.W. and American Legion, the town historian, Hugh King, and students from East Hampton High School.
Jeff Kiger, the East Hampton American Legion Post 419 commander, who served in the Marines, presided over the ceremony at the mill, and the Rev. Ryan Creamer of Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton delivered the invocation, highlighting the day’s theme of personal remembrance. “No love is greater than that which gives itself for another,” Father Creamer said. “The honored dead gave the most precious gift they had, life itself.”
“Never let us forget those who paid so terrible a price to ensure that freedom would be our legacy,” he added later.
Each speaker underlined that theme. Mr. Mott touched on those in his own family who had served before him. “My family has a long history of serving in the military,” he said. “My father was one of nine boys who served along with six of his brothers in World War II.” He himself served two tours of duty in the Navy during the Vietnam War. He also spoke of the history of Memorial Day, how celebrations began in the years following the American Civil War and how it became an official federal holiday in 1971.
“It is an important time for remembering that the freedom we have and enjoy today is the result of human dedication and sacrifice,” Mr. Mott said.
The guest speaker this year was Conlon Carabine, an East Hampton native and a retired Marine Corps major, who served in Afghanistan and Iraq. “We gather today to pay our respects to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the defense of our great nation,” Mr. Carabine said, “men and women who laid down their lives and their very future for this nation and the ideals of this nation, the ideals that define us as a people: justice, integrity, unselfishness, courage, self-determination, and freedom.”
Mr. Carabine also touched on what the people who serve leave behind, families and loved ones, but also potential futures and roads they could have traveled.
He gave as a personal example two people whom he thinks about on Memorial Day, Todd Siebert and Sam Griffith, who served with him in the Middle East. “Both had loving wives,” Mr. Carabine said, “and both had two sons when they were killed in action.”
“How do we truly honor such men and women?” he asked. “If you want to honor their memory, then do the things they can’t: Care for your family, care for yourself, care for your community, and try not to take the simple things in life for granted.”
