I had the pleasure of marching in uniform with Troop 55 of Highland Park/Edison, New Jersey in the Salute to Israel Day Parade down Fifth Avenue in New York City. The Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America are some of the first marchers in the parade. We are right behind the Veterans of America. First, we had to get there:
At left, we leave from Edison, New Jersey. At right, we are in Penn Station, New York.
A lot of waiting for the parade to start:
Finally, we march:
There were a lot more schools and floats from many organizations that we missed, because we wanted to get home. In particular, it would have been nice to see RPRY(my children’s school) and TABC(the high school my son will attend next year). But they weren’t marching until much later.
This one is a reflection in the window of a New York apartment building:
So here are some of the tired scouts, sitting down this time in Penn Station:
We got to ride on these cool double-decker trains on our train ride back to New Jersey.
See also Elinka’s parade pictures.
Mason Resnick has his Memorial Day Parade (Highland Park and New Brunswick march down Raritan Avenue in Highland Park, New Jersey) photos online.
Check them out and say hello to Mason!
Anticipation, an empty street with onlookers:
Finally, the parade begins:
The Highland Park politicians march toward the front of the parade. The woman in the red hat is Mayor Meryl Frank. Elsie Foster-Dublin, a councilwoman, is wearing a red blazer and waving. Jon Erickson is on the far left. Padraic Millet is new to the council.
Oops, missed one. At the left is Councilman Gary Minkoff. One of the nice things about living in a small borough like Highland Park is you can be on a first name basis with the politicians.
Gary looks like he is having a nice time, saying hello to the many folks he knows. Including us.
And the parade continues:
New Brunswick marchers are part of the parade. The dancers are always a treat:
If you play on a Highland Park Recreation softball team, you get to march in the parade. My daughter saw a friend from her ballet class marching with her mom:
Here are some Girl Scouts (actually, Brownies). We know some of these girls well.
The Cub Scouts marched next. This is the first year in a while that I am not marching; my son is now a Boy Scout, and he is up in a Boy Scout camp in Northwest New Jersey this weekend. Having a grand old time, I’m sure. He called yesterday to say he was on top of a cliff.
This is Mason Resnick, a professional photographer. And a friend. Here are some photos he took of the Highland Park Street Fair.
And more here by Mason. And here, too.
Wouldn’t be a local parade without the firetrucks:
Highland Park First Aid Squad is a group of dedicated, hard-working volunteers:
If you’re still with me, the parade ends with short speeches by some veterans and by Mayor Meryl Frank. She mentioned that her father is a World War II veteran. She also said the world was more black-and-white then; now there are more shades of gray.
Here’s the Highland Park High School band:
The bands (there was more than one) played the National Anthem. We said the Pledge of Allegiance. Towards the end, someone sang God Bless America. At the very end, a band played Taps.
Part of the end of the ceremony was laying a wreath under the Doughboy statue.
Next week I will probably be marching with the Boy Scouts in the Salute to Israel Day Parade in New York City.
We have this statue down the street from our house. It’s referred to as the “Doughboy.” That’s where the Memorial Day parade today ends.
American men who fought in World War I in France were called “doughboys.” It’s such a strange name, I decided to find out how the name came to be. The term goes back as far as the Mexican-American War of 1846-47, referring to the infantry.
From this site on World War I:
Independently, in the former colonies, the term had come to be applied to baker’s young apprentices, i.e. dough-boys. Again, American soldiers probably were familiar with this usage. This version of doughboy was also something of a distant relative to “dough-head”, a colloquialism for stupidity in 19th Century America. When doughboy was finally to find a home with the U.S. Army it would have a disparaging connotation, used most often by cavalrymen looking down [quite literally] on the foot-bound infantry.
More on Memorial Day:
Ever wonder if your blogging can have effect? This morning I woke up and found this:
Remembering in New Jersey
So I felt I should share with you the next day as well, the annual RPRY Yom Ha’Atzmaut parade, which is always a lot of fun. This year, the sky was rather cloudy. But out came many people: students, teachers, parents, neighbors. We march around the block.
I enjoyed talking with some other moms about my chauffeuring 5 teenage boys to Teaneck on Tuesday, and how as a mom of a teenager you are “not supposed to say anything in the car.” No adding your own jokes, no reflections on the conversation.
In the end, it did rain on our parade.
But I had brought my daughter’s treasured umbrella, and she enjoyed sharing it with a friend.
Some of the littlest children went for shelter on a porch:
We had live musicians accompanying the parade, too, to add to the merriment.
The younger children returned to their classrooms, and the older children, such as my boys, continued the celebration with dancing in the gym.
On my walk home, I was tempted to take some photos of some of the homes with Israeli flags. Instead, take a look at all the flags in the Tel Aviv area here.
