Memorial day memories.

[oldtimer]

Memorial Day will soon be with us...........

Each year for the past aprox 70 years there is a Memorial day cerimony held at a recreational field named for and known as the Donofrio boys field...Several hundred gathered to say a prayer honoring these 3 cousins...I was a 2nd cousin...Although I was a couple of years younger, we all lived a few blocks from each other and grew up together...

Little did I think that neither of them would live to see 21 years of age......

Peter was the first to die...Assigned to the Philipines, he was captured during the Japanese invasion...He survied the Bataan death march...While on a Japanese warship being transported back to Japan, it was sunk by allied planes...Peter's body lies somewhere below the Formosa Straits...

Carl was next...While flying 'Over the Hump' from India to China his plane was lost somewhere over Tibet...His body was never recovered and still lies buried somewhere benieth the snow high up in moutains...

Charles was last to die...While engaged in the battle of Mt. Casino in Italy, he stepped on a land mine which blew him to bits...What remained is buried somewhere in the foothills of that mountain...

I will not be able to attend this years ceremony but in spirit I will be over Donofrio field saying a prayer for friends of my youth who just about reached the age of 18-21...The gathering grows smaller with each passing year, but the memories will remain forever...

Sleep well Charlie, Carl and Pete....

[chelseadal]

God bless them!

[qs]

Amen, OT!

[Cjb]

I played on 'Donof' field hundreds of times - Little League through adult rec softball.

Never knew the back story of how that field was named.

Thanks oldtimer, and a respectful salute to all those that answered the call of duty and never returned.

[ic59]

While I lived through WW II, my memories of Memorial Day were more on the spiritual side. During the war at ICS, Fr. Kerwin celebrated an outdoor mass at Holy Mount Cemetery. The altar was set up in the circle at the back of the cemetery and folding stairs set up in the front of the altar. Today, the entire space is filled with graves. After mass there was a parade down to Tuckahoe Square.

[oldtimer]

A Memorial day reminder..........

A veteren is someone who at one point in his or hers life wrote a blank check made payable to ''The United States of America''
for the amount of ''up to and including my
life''

That is honor...There are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it....

Author Unknown...