Long Islanders celebrate Memorial Day

Long Islanders marched in parades, cheered from the sidewalks, visited cemeteries and basked on sunny beaches Monday to commemorate the Memorial Day holiday.

An early-morning parade in Orient started out small but grew at stops for each of five war memorials. And in Greenport, Mayor David Nyce kicked off a local parade by remembering "those who gave their lives so we can sit around talking about such mundane things as how beautiful the weather is."

Veterans and family members of those still serving paid heartfelt tribute to the war dead.

Purple Heart recipient Alan Grossman, 70, of Yaphank, was among 1,500 people attending a ceremony at Long Island National Cemetery at Calverton, where volunteers had placed 215,000 flags on graves.

"It brings back a lot of memories," said Grossman, a former Marine lance corporal who took three bullets in a firefight in Cambodia and also was awarded the Silver Star.

At a parade in Mineola, Evelyn Roser, 55, whose son has been serving in Iraq since August, stood in the shadow of a building as a respite from the sun.

Memorial Day made her think of "all the sacrifices people made, how important it is that people support soldiers, Marines and sailors," she said as the Chaminade High School band marched toward her, playing "God Bless America."

On the final day of the three-day weekend, the unofficial start of summer, bikers hit the roads and families held barbecues and picnics at beach parks and backyards.

At breezy Robert Moses State Park, where the water was 59 degrees, Rocco Monserrat, 22, of Bay Shore, brought his 4-year-old daughter onto a sandbar where she enjoyed splashing around and collecting sea shells.

"Memorial Day is about spending time with family," he said. "We got here around 8:30 this morning and have been enjoying the warm weather all day."

Some sought to duck the crowds and the heat.

After having spent Sunday at the beach in Oyster Bay, Debbie Iammarino, 38, of Syosset, and her family carved out a cool spot in the shade next to the marina at Cold Spring Harbor Monday. She said, "We figured we'd stop here to avoid the hot beach and being directly in the sun."

With Jennifer Barrios, Mitchell Freedman and Evan Klonsky