New York commemorates fallen war heroes in multiple ways this Memorial Day

NEW YORK — New York is host to a variety of Memorial Day events. Whether they’re large or small, or feature resonant marching bands or silent ceremonies, each in its own way commemorates those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

“The fact that everyone comes together to remember sacrifices through the centuries,” said Senator Charles Schumer on Monday afternoon, “speaks to the strength of America, no matter what's going on in Washington.”

Schumer spoke with PIX11 News from the Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade, in Queens. It’s the largest Memorial Day parade in the state, possibly in the country.

Meanwhile, on the west side of Manhattan, at the USS Intrepid, a ceremony featuring moments of solemnity. They included the unfurling of a U.S. flag that’s about half the length of a football field, and the placing of a memorial wreath on the water, and a “Missing Man Formation” flyby.

On a much smaller scale was the 90th Memorial Day Parade in Inwood, in Upper Manhattan.

As a Marine visiting from Fleet Week pointed out, he was one of only a few hundred participants, but the intimacy of the gathering mattered.

“To see small communities like this right here,” said Sgt. Zev Sirkovich, “to see how touched they are on a small local level like that, I really didn't expect it.”

Bay Ridge, Brooklyn also held a parade, the city’s second largest, dating back to when it commemorated the loss of Civil War soldiers in the late 1860s.