The Memorial Park offers a serene experience within a natural environment soaked in history. Visitors move through the Park’s segmented walls of parallel histories happening all at once.
The first addition to the Park in the new century is the Navy Submariners Monument which honors those who are now on eternal patrol. The Park also features a popular nationally acclaimed jogging trail.
Pearl Harbor Memorial
Designed to honor the Americans killed at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the memorial offers a number of unique features. It includes a visitor center and museum with exhibits and displays, as well as a shrine where visitors can lay leis or flowers.
The centerpiece of the memorial is a view of the USS Arizona’s wreckage, with gun turret 3 protruding from the water. It is also possible to see the rest of Battleship Row, including the USS Oklahoma and the USS Utah. The 184-foot structure is designed with a low center that rises at the ends, suggesting initial defeat followed by victory.
Gonzalez argues that the memorial has been framed as a site to communicate war history and emphasize nationalistic ideas. However, she notes that the fact that Hawaii is a popular tourist destination means that people from extremely diverse backgrounds visit the memorial and thus may assimilate different meanings to it. This is particularly true because the monument is located in a place that inspires a sense of enduring peace.
POW/MIA Recognition Day
National POW/MIA Recognition Day, celebrated the third Friday of September, honors Americans who were prisoners of war (POWs) and those who are missing in action. The day is an opportunity to raise the profile of these servicemembers and their families, show that America supports them and will not forget them, and to call on the government to do all it can to ensure that they are fully accounted for.
The official POW/MIA flag features a white disk bearing a black silhouette of a man on watch, a guard tower and a strand of barbed wire. It is meant to be flown just below the United States flag on all federal buildings and military installations, including veterans memorials.
Contact your Governor to request a proclamation supporting National POW/MIA Recognition Day, calling on all citizens to participate in honoring US personnel who remain unaccounted for from our nation’s past wars. Also urge your Governor to send a copy of the proclamation to the President, Secretaries of State and Defense, and the Members of Congress in your state delegation.
Veterans Day
Originally called Armistice Day, the holiday was created to honor those who served in America’s armed forces. After World War II and the Korean War, Congress, at the urging of veterans service organizations, amended the Act of 1938 to strike out the word “Armistice” and insert the word “Veterans.” On June 1, 1954, November 11 became a day that honors American veterans of all wars.
Memorial parks feature dignified sculptured bronze markers lying flat on landscaped plots. Instead of competing headstones, these markers memorialize one person’s final resting place with a sense of peace and dignity.
The Village’s Memorial Park, located on Marcellus Road, is the home of Long Island’s most beautiful September 11th memorial.
Memorial Day
During Memorial Day weekend, the nation honors the men and women who have died in military service. The holiday, which originally was known as Decoration Day, began with local observances in towns throughout the country after the Civil War.
In 1868, General John A. Logan, commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), formally established Memorial Day as a day to remember and decorate the graves of American soldiers who had died in battle. While there is much debate as to when and where the first Memorial Day celebration took place, many towns claim the honor of being its birthplace.
By the end of the century, Decoration Day had spread to every Union state and, after World War I, it grew to honor all Americans who had died in military service. Today, Memorial Day is a national holiday observed on the last Monday in May. It features parades, speeches, ceremonies at military cemeteries and, in Washington, D.C., a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.