The Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial…
By Kathianne Boniello
Anyone ready to boogie the night away for a good cause will get her chance next week when the Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade Committee holds its annual dinner dance, the group’s biggest fund-raising event.
The Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade, in existence for 70-plus years, has been the nation’s second largest after Chicago’s Memorial Day event.
Organizer Gil Krasnoff said the dinner dance is one of the group’s most critical fund-raising events.
“A parade runs on guts — it runs on sweat, but most importantly it runs on money,” Krasnoff said. The group needs roughly $30,000 to operate the parade, which often features some 13 bands and 11,000 marchers.
This year’s dinner dance, slated for the Douglaston Manor catering hall at 8 p.m. Friday, will honor parade committee members Ralph Barba and Barbara Quigley-Barba, and community activist Lori Rodman.
The Barbas have been active committee members, with Ralph raising funds among local businesses and Barbara helping coordinate the parade committee’s annual Arts and Essay Contest. Rodman is currently vice president of the Queens’ Women’s Center.
This year’s march theme is “the 50th Anniversary of the Korean War,” a conflict Krasnoff said was important because it was not officially recognized as a war by the United States. It was considered a United Nations “police action.”
“We choose this because it’s important to remember that freedom is not free and the kids have got to know that,” said Krasnoff. “It’s time to honor our Korean veterans.”
The 2001 event marks the first time that Krasnoff and his partner, Auburndale civic leader Jim Rodgers, have assumed leadership of the parade from its longtime organizers, Karen Bartolotta and Tom Nouza.
Krasnoff said the Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Parade Committee will continue to host several traditional events in the days and weeks leading up to the May 28 march, which will stretch from Jayson Avenue in Great Neck along Northern Boulevard to St. Anastasia’s in Douglaston.
Other related events include an interfaith memorial service often held the morning of the parade, and the arts and essay contest that brings the committee’s message to local schools.
In addition, the committee presents awards each year to several community residents and to its marshals.
This year’s grand marshal, Gen. William Ward, is a combat veteran who received the Purple Heart and was chief of the Army Reserve from 1986 until he retired in 1991.
The 2001 parade will feature six division marshals, including Manny Goldberg, a Baysider who served in World War II as a Japanese interpreter. Goldberg is credited with saving more than 2,000 civilians and soldiers from death during his tour.
Mortimer Leschen, also a division marshal, has lived in Bellerose Manor for about 50 years and served in WW II in China, Burma and India.
Other division marshals are David Gratt of Bayside, who was a prisoner of war in Germany during WW II; Jerry and Philip Rosamilia, who were both in WW II and were two of four brothers to serve their country; and Air Force ace Col. Francis Gabreski.
Contributions to the Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade can be sent to P.O. Box 630144, Little Neck, N.Y. 11363-0144. For more information, call 224-6114 or e-mail parade@littleneck.net.
For dinner dance details or to attend, call 279-1702. Douglaston Manor is located at 63-20 Commonwealth Blvd., at Marathon Parkway.
Reach reporter Kathianne Boniello by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 146.
