Nation's Largest Memorial Day Parade To Take Over Douglaston

DOUGLASTON, QUEENS -- A Memorial Day parade that organizers claim to be largest in the nation will take over the streets of Douglaston and Little Neck for the 91st time this holiday weekend.

The Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade will kick off, rain or shine, on Monday at Jayson Avenue and Northern Boulevard, this time honoring the 65th anniversary of the Korean War cease-fire in July 1953, according to the parade's website.

"We remember those who fell in this war that has never ended, and thank all those who stand guard against the enemies of freedom, on the Korean (peninsula) and around the world," organizers wrote.

Parade festivities begin at 10 a.m. with an interfaith mass at the Oakland Little Neck Jewish Center, followed by opening ceremonies - including a wreath-laying and rifle salut - at 11 a.m. in Divine Wisdom Catholic Academy's Monument Park.

Father Smith Hall in Douglaston will host a veteran's breakfast at 11:45 a.m. before the Grand Marshal, Division Marshals, veterans and elected officials head to the starting lineup at 1 p.m. to lead the parade.

The parade itself will kick off at 2 p.m., winding down a 1.5 mile stretch of Northern Boulevard that ends between 243rd and 244th streets.

U.S. Marine Corps Brigadier General William Seely III will serve as the parade's Grand Marshal this year. Seely, now director of Marine Corps Intelligence, served as commander of the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he was awarded the Bronze Star.

The late Frederick Peter Crosby will also serve as the parade's Honorary Marshal. The marine was killed in the Vietnam War while flying an unarmed plane that was shot down over North Vietnam, according to his bio.

The New York Air National Guard's 106th Rescue Wing and Vietnam veteran Ted Han will also serve as parade marshals.

Awards will also be handed out at a closing ceremony following the parade from 4 - 4:45 p.m.

Community activist Andrea Licari-LaGrassa will be named Women Of The Year, and City Councilman Paul Vallone (D-Bayside) will take home the Man Of The Year award. Linda Lee, executive director of Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York, will receive this year's Community Service Award.

The closing ceremony will wrap up with a free concert from the Long Island-based band, Voices For Veterans.

(Lead image: Veterans march in the Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade in Queens. Photo via Shutterstock)