Bay Ridge

World War II veteran leads Brooklyn Memorial Day Parade

Theme of 2016 March: Service, Valor, Sacrifice

May 31, 2016 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Hon. Jerome D. Cohen, a retired New York State Supreme Court justice and a World War II veteran, was this year’s Kings County Memorial Day Parade grand marshal. The event is one of the oldest Memorial Day parades in the country, and it’s still going strong. Photo courtesy of Raymond Aalbue
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One of the oldest Memorial Day parades in the country took place right here in Brooklyn.

The 149th Annual Kings County Memorial Day Parade was held on Monday, May 30, in Bay Ridge.

Hon. Jerome D. Cohen, a retired New York State Supreme Court justice and a World War II veteran, was the parade’s grand marshal. The deputy grand marshals were Dr. Charles Hall, NYPD Dep. Insp. Ray Festino and singer Frankie Marra.

The theme for the parade was “Service, Valor, Sacrifice.”

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Brooklyn’s Memorial Day Parade had originally taken place on Eastern Parkway for more than 115 years and then moved to Prospect Park West. It has been held in Bay Ridge since 1988.

The parade route started on Third Avenue and Bay Ridge Parkway and ran along Third Avenue to Marine Avenue, up Marine Avenue to Fourth Avenue and then along Fourth Avenue to 101st Street and into John Paul Jones Park.

At the conclusion of the parade, a memorial service took place inside the park that included a wreath-laying ceremony, a salute to the flag, the playing of “Taps” and a 21 gun-salute by the Veteran Corps of Artillery, New York state’s oldest military organization. The corps dates back to the American Revolution.

Col. Joseph Davidson, commander of the U.S. Army Garrison Fort Hamilton, was the reviewing officer at the parade.

The parade featured special guests, including the United States Military Academy Band, the United States Air Force Honor Guard and tenor Danny Rodriguez.

The parade was sponsored by the United Military Veterans of Kings County, Inc., a not-for-profit organization.

The veteran’s organizations that took part in the parade included Kings County Jewish War Veterans, Catholic War Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Kings County American Legion, Korean War Veterans, Vietnam Veterans of America, Disabled American Veterans, women veterans groups, Gulf War veterans, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, the Brooklyn “Key Chapter” of American Ex-Prisoners of War, Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans and the group Hope for the Warriors.

The participants also included representatives of labor unions, members of civic organizations, boy scouts and girl scouts, sea cadets, members of the Law Enforcement Explorers and Brooklyn high school bands.

The grand marshal has had a long history with the parade, according to the event’s organizers.

As a member of the Sons of the American Legion, Justice Cohen has marched in the Kings County Memorial Day Parade every year since 1936, except for the three years he served in the Pacific during World War II.

Cohen, who was born in Brooklyn in 1925, still resides in the borough. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy at the age of 17 and served aboard the USS Nashville as pointer for a Quad 40mm anti-aircraft gun. He also served as the pilot on Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s personal motor whaleboat.

He has three sons, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Cohen holds lifetime memberships in many veterans’ organizations, including the American Legion, Military Order of the Purple Heart, Veterans of Foreign Wars and Disabled American Veterans. He is the senior past national commander of the Jewish War Veterans of the U.S. and is a member of the United Military Veterans of Kings County, where he continues to work on behalf of the parade in the country.

In addition, he is an honorary member of St. Catherine of Genoa and St. Jerome posts of the Catholic War Veterans of America.

 


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