United States Navy veteran Peter Ciraulo looked up to talk to two stilts performers decked out in red, white and blue as attendees hoping for chicken tenders lined up outside a food truck behind him. Ciraulo, who served in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive, chatted and joked with the performers, recommending they become Rockettes.
Ciraulo said he has been attending the Town of North Hempstead’s annual Thank You to Our Veterans events for many years – and “loves it.”
“You rejuvenate with the younger people, and also you could relate to the older people, like the Korean War veterans and older, and veterans from Vietnam,” he said. “You bring up a lot of interesting stories – where you were stationed, what you did, who you worked for, etc.”
This year’s event, hosted on Friday, Nov. 7, welcomed veterans to connect with community organizations, town leaders and one another while enjoying a barbecue-style lunch. The event was sponsored in part by Four Leaf Federal Credit Union. Many groups that aim to help veterans had tables, including the Nassau County Veterans Service Agency, Project Independence and Veterans of Foreign Wars.
“This is just our way of letting veterans know we care,” said Town Supervisor Jennifer DeSena. “Thanking them has to be more than just lip service. We have to offer our support and celebrate veterans in our community.”
All North Hempstead Council members spoke, along with County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton and County Comptroller Elaine Phillips, according to a representative from the town. County Chaplain Eric Spinner delivered an invocation and sang “God Bless the USA” with the American Bombshells, a “patriotic entertainment” group.
Veterans sat at long tables, chatting with one another as they ate.
“It’s interesting because you get to see people you haven’t seen for a whole year, and sometimes you get to see people that you sat at a meeting with last week,” said Stephen Fleming, who was in the US Army Reserve for years.
Fleming said he remembers delivering newspapers to a veteran of the Spanish-American War 60 years ago. “We are about the same number of years away from the Vietnam War as Vietnam was from the Spanish-American War,” he said.
“It was a guy on our route by the name of Mr. Hands, and Mr. Hands was a Spanish American War veteran. This is the end of th ’50s – that’s 60 years ago,” he said. “Well, guess what, boys and girls? We’re coming up on 60 years with Vietnam.”
He said he questions why the country still fights wars.
“They say that the worst of men must fight, the best of men must die. It doesn’t make sense,” Fleming said. “But then, as they say, war is the failure of diplomacy. So if we have experts in diplomacy, why are we still fighting? Shouldn’t we be experts in sorting it out?”
