Veterans Day ceremony held at Huntington Town Hall
The names of thousands of Huntington residents who served in American wars, both those who made it home and those who were killed in action, are inscribed on monuments outside Huntington Town Hall.
Near those stones more than 100 people gathered Sunday for an annual event in honor of Veterans Day, which is observed Nov. 11.
The 45-minute ceremony, featuring remarks from officials, prayer and a performance by the Huntington Men’s Chorus, marks the start of Veterans Day events across Long Island this week. The Kiwanis Club of Huntington also set up rows of flags on the Town Hall lawn as part of an annual fundraiser for children’s and veterans’ causes.
Veterans Day honors America's veterans for their “patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good,” according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
That is necessary because veterans like 93-year-old Anselm “Jerry” Cramer of East Northport say wartime memories, like the sound of a fallen comrade’s frozen bone cracking in half, never leaves them.
Cramer served as a Marine during the Korean War and fought in the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir in November 1950. Troops found themselves surrounded by the Chinese while temperatures dropped to 25 degrees below zero.
Members of the Huntington Men's Chorus sing the national anthem at a Veterans Day ceremony at Town Hall in Huntington on Sunday. Credit: Morgan Campbell
Cramer suffered severe frostbite in his hands and feet making his way out and was hospitalized for three months. He still feels the effects in his extremities.
“I don’t know how I survived,” said Cramer, a retired electrical worker who walks with the aid of a cane.
“The weather was as lethal as the bullets,” added Cramer’s friend, Joseph Casoria, 87, also of East Northport.
The pair met at the American Legion Hall Post 694 in Huntington about five years ago and Casoria has since been on a campaign to get Cramer awarded the Purple Heart. Casoria, who served in the Army after the Korean War fighting had ended, enlisted elected officials to help lobby the Department of Defense to award the medal. Cramer has been told he does not qualify due to a technicality, but Casoria says that should not apply.
The event also drew residents much younger than Cramer and Casoria including members of Huntington’s Cub Pack 406 who volunteered to distribute programs.
Marialisa Mennella of Huntington said she came to the event both to honor her father Louis, a Vietnam War veteran, and to instill a sense of honor and reverence in her four children who are members of the pack.
“I know it's very sentimental for my dad,” she said. “Every time he shares anything that he's been through, these experiences are invaluable. People don't even understand or comprehend what they have been through to serve this country.”
Her father pointed to his name on the Vietnam memorial and commented how lucky he was at age 78 to have that opportunity.
“It’s hard to think about, the other guys,” Louis Mennella said as he became emotional. “It doesn’t go away.”
Vera Chinese joined Newsday in 2017 after working as an editor for the East End lifestyle publication northforker and a general assignment reporter for the New York Daily News.
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