Memorial Day largely returns to normal after pandemic disrupted events last year

This year’s Memorial Day largely marks a return to tradition — one year after precautions to halt the coronavirus pandemic upended how Long Island and the nation honor American war dead and begin the summer season.

A mass-planting of American flags is once again authorized at the 155 Department of Veterans Affairs national veterans cemeteries — including the three burial grounds serving the Long Island-New York City area.

Parades in the towns, hamlets and villages, canceled like nearly all gatherings, are back on the calendar.

And beyond the solemn commemorations, the ancillary ways Long Island families celebrate the holiday with their children are returning, too, such as the water park Splish Splash in Calverton and the region's beaches.

But Mother Nature might not cooperate, with rain scheduled for much of the weekend, according to a forecast from the National Weather Service, and threatening to curtail the resumed air show over Jones Beach.

Still, to those who are planning to observe the holiday, the resumption of routine and custom feels long overdue.

"We’re very excited about hosting the Memorial Day parade. It’s an annual tradition and event in the village," Babylon Village Mayor Mary Adams said Friday of Monday’s procession, to be hosted by the Babylon American Legion Post 94.

The parade begins at 11 a.m., starting at Foster Boulevard and going south on Deer Park Avenue through the business district, then west on Main Street and toward the Village Gazebo.

"We’re excited that our families will be able to participate and the children will be able to participate and the organizations will be able to participate as well," Adams said.

Last year, the mayor added, the American Legion had smaller ceremonies in the village, where wreaths were placed and a few words and prayers said in the absence of the traditional parade.

"As always, it’s not about the parade. It’s really about the message of Memorial Day, which is really keeping in mind, thanking and celebrating all of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for all the freedoms we enjoy, and never to forget that," Adams said.

There are parades throughout the island — in Lawrence-Cedarhurst, Farmingdale, Levittown, Massapequa, Port Washington, Merrick, Orient, Riverhead, Southold and elsewhere.

The roots of Memorial Day date to three years after the end of the Civil War — May 5, 1868 — when the head of a Union veterans organization established Decoration Day to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. The date was chosen so that flowers would be in bloom nationwide.

Not until after World War I was the day extended to all those who died in American wars, and it became a national holiday by an act of Congress in 1971.

At the area’s three veterans cemeteries — Calverton National Cemetery in Calverton, Long Island National Cemetery in Pinelawn and Cypress Hills National Cemetery in Brooklyn — there are about 659,000 veterans and their kin buried, according to Les’ A. Melnyk, spokesman for the National Cemetery Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Most of those are in the two Long Island cemeteries: 282,000 at Calverton and 356,000 at Long Island National. There are 5 million people buried in the 155 veterans cemeteries, of whom 3.8 million are veterans. (The breakdown for the local burial grounds was not available.)

"The big difference this year compared to last year is, this year, we are permitting mass-placements of U.S. flags on graves in all of our cemeteries where there are sufficient volunteers to do so," Melnyk said.

(Last year there were placements, but the effort wasn't coordinated by Melnyk's agency.)

He added: "You’ll be seeing a lot more volunteers, particularly Boy Scouts, but [also] other veteran services organizations, placing flags at the cemeteries."

Still, he said, since key guidelines relaxing restrictions by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention weren’t announced until earlier this month, there was insufficient time to plan the large-scale public events that traditionally mark Memorial Day by the agency, he said.

"I know folks are disappointed," he said, "but that was just logically impossible for us to arrange."

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.