Legislator David Tubiolo; Nick Mastromarco, vice president of the Spreckman Center; Janice
Felix, president of the Spreckman Center; Mayor Mike Spano; Sam Riti, commander of Amvets
Rauso Post 40; State Sen. Shelley Mayer; Ron Tocci, Westchester County Director of
Veterans Affairs.
serviceman that remain missing and never came home.
By Dan Murphy
The City of Yonkers celebrated Veterans Day on Nov. 11 with events all over the city.
Mayor Mike Spano joined with veterans organizations at the City War Memorial on South Broadway for the annual Yonkers Veterans Day ceremony.
Another annual Veterans Day tribute occurred at the Coyne Park-Spreckman Senior Center on McLean Avenue, when AMVETS Rauso Post 40 held its POW-MIA ceremony.
“This started seven years ago when a senior from Coyne Park asked us to do it to remember those who never came home,” said AMVETS Cmdr. Sam Riti. “We still have over 82,000 veterans who have never been found since WWII.”
At the ceremony, veterans from the Coyne Park Senior Center are brought up and recognized and thanked for their service. The POW-MIA ceremony also includes the setting of a dinner table that has an empty chair, in memory of prisoners of war who never came home.
The POW-MIA ceremony is usually performed on the third Friday in September, but the Coyne Park-Spreckman seniors enjoy honoring and remembering on Veterans Day with this ceremony, which was attended by Spano, Council Minority Leader Mike Breen, Councilman John Rubbo, State Sen. Shelley Mayer, County Legislator David Tubiolo, Yonkers Director of Veterans Affairs Lou Navarro, and county Veterans Services Director Ron Tocci.
Also in attendance were Yonkers high school students who are members of a veterans service club, formed to serve and honor veterans.
The following poem by Brittany Cuneo sums up the thanks that Yonkers Rising and all of Yonkers feels toward our veterans:
Thank a Veteran: A Veterans’ Day Poem
Today is the day we honor the noble and the brave, the men and women who dedicated their lives, and the sacrifices they have made.
When America had an urgent need, they were the first to raise their hand, without thinking twice about it, they were proud to take a stand.
Some came back from war with battle scars, others in flagged-draped coffins, even though their flesh may have left, their spirits will never be forgotten.
They unselfishly and knowingly put their lives on the line, so when you see a veteran, thank them, cause without them, freedom would have died.
