This Memorial Day, throughout Colonie and across the state — the first in the Union to recognize Memorial Day in 1873 — thousands will remember those who served and died in American conflicts.
Memorial ceremonies have already begun in the town with the annual Loyalty Day held Friday, May 18, at the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Robert L. Weininger Memorial Post 8692 in the village of Colonie.
The event kicks off a series of festivities at the handful of veterans associations within the town. This Friday, May 25, the post office on Karner Road honors an employee who served in the military who has since died.
It’s what marks the beginning of the Memorial Day weekend events for Supervisor Mary Brizzell.
We hold them (veterans) in high esteem and are always thankful for what they have given. It’s important to keep the memory of them alive. It’s an example for young people, Brizzell said.
The town is active year round in preserving the memory of veterans who served during wartime. An online Veteran’s Project tracks the veterans of Colonie and posts their stories. Those stories are important to remember, said Brizzell, especially on Memorial Day.
The project also gives fellow servicemen and women and family the opportunity to search for veterans within the town.
The village of Colonie, like the town, does not have Memorial Day ceremonies of its own so as not to compete with local veterans associations that host annual ceremonies the last Monday in May.
Village Trustee Tom Tobin always attends the annual service at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8692. He reserves the weekend to spend it with family, including a visit to the cemetery where his father-in-law, a Navy veteran of World War II and Korea, was laid to rest last year. As a member of VFW Post 1019 and a Vietnam War veteran, Memorial Day, is important, especially today, he said.
`The thing about remembering is, if you don’t remember the person, they died twice,` said Tobin, a former Marine, paraphrasing from the book `Night` by Elie Wiesel, a survivor of Nazi concentration camps.
`Make sure you remember,` said Tobin. `I think a lot of people do, and it is important now with the Iraq War.`
Tobin served 10 months in Vietnam stationed with the Marines in Da Nang. He came home in 1970. Returning home then was different for troops, he said.
For one, military personnel didn’t come home with their units, they came home alone. And often the politics of the war followed closely behind.
That isn’t happening anymore, he said.
There is a distinction between those who make war and those that fight them, he said. That is important for a soldier, and it is important to remember on this Memorial Day, said Tobin.
This weekend’s events will be held at the West Albany and Latham Kiwanis pocket parks in Colonie. To learn more about the events and time, contact the town’s Parks and Recreation Department at 783-2760.
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