By Nathan Duke
The Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade, the largest in the United States, will celebrate the 65th anniversary of World War II’s end as it draws thousands of people to march through northeast Queens May 31.
The day’s events will kick off with an interfaith service at Zion Episcopal at 243-01 Northern Blvd. in Douglaston and will be followed by the massive annual parade, which will begin at 2 p.m. at the corner of Jason Avenue and Northern Boulevard in Great Neck.
The parade will then proceed west on Northern Boulevard to 244th Street into the school yard of St. Anastasia School in Little Neck. Divisions will assemble at 1 p.m. at Jason Avenue, Great Neck Road, Nassau Road and Glenwood Street.
The event is the largest Memorial Day parade in the nation, often drawing as many as 45,000 people each year.
This year’s parade will commemorate the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Maj. Gen. William Monk III, commanding general of the 99th Regional Support Command at New Jersey’s Fort Dix, will act as the parade’s grand marshal.
A community service award will be given to Brooklyn-born Stanley “Bud” Grant, who serves as the president of the Friends of the Congressional Glaucoma Caucus Foundation, a federally funded nonprofit foundation that screens low-income people for eye diseases.
Man of the Year honorees include Edward Kilduff, chief of department for the city Fire Department, and Terry McGee, a detective with the city Police Department, who has received more than 100 commendations from the NYPD.
The parade has been held in northeast Queens since 1927.
Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e-mail at nduke@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
