A Village Stands Tall

There is no program for the Stony Creek Memorial Day Parade. Every person in the village knows the score by heart. 

The ritual is learned in childhood and one generation passes it on to the next. Each year new children enter this Norman Rockwell world, a place that seems frozen in time. 

As if by ancient cue the villagers, hundreds of families in all, gathered at 7: 45 a.m. at the Flagpole. At 8 a.m. the ceremony began, rain or shine. (The main Branford parade, scheduled for 10 a.m. was canceled due to the rain.) Our photographer, Mary Johnson, chronicled the Stony Creek event. . 
 

From start to finish, this is a tribute, in music and in words, to the men and women whose lives were altered by the wars they fought in.

The glue that binds this historic event is the Stony Creek Fife and Drum Corps, now 125 years old. Their musical history is legendary. They practice twice a week, teaching one another the nuances of their trade. Their music has been passed down from generation to generation.

Every so often a new member enters the ranks. 

First Selectman Unk DaRos, 68, (pictured) who was born in the Creek, said the parade is at least 100 years old ​“and it was an old tradition when I began.” He was about 8 years old when he attended his first parade. ​“I have been here each year for 60 years,” he said, except for the years he was in service himself.

His daughter, Maureen, who guesses she was a baby in a stroller when her parents first brought her to this event, took a red-eye flight back from a conference in order to attend. She wouldn’t miss it. ​“All Creekers come back for this event. You plan on seeing people you haven’t seen for years,” she said.

As Gil Kelman, another Stony Creek resident and a former newspaper editor who just turned 90, put it: ​“When they say hello, they mean hello.”

There is comfort in the ritual, in the sameness of the event each year. But this year, unlike many years past, the skies were dark. There was talk of rain.

Nonetheless, along the sidewalks people lined up to view stage center, the flagpole. The Boy Scout troop stood ready to address the American flag. Other scout groups lined up. The veterans of many wars, all of whom live in Stony Creek, stood next to one another in a line. 

With a nod, the Fife and Drum Corp, eighteen members in all, stepped up to the center. They played The Star Spangled Banner. Next was Msgr. David Walker, of St. Therese Church on Leete’s Island Rd. He gave the blessing. In the end he said: ​“Finally, Lord, we pray that we may be peacemakers so that no more names be added and no more families be devastated in wars and hostilities.”

The military men shot their rifles three times in the heavy morning air. Rayzl Feuer, a Jewish spiritual director, recited a prayer in Hebrew to honor the memory of those lost. Soon Taps was played by a lone bugle player.

That was the signal for the march to begin, for the musicians, led by Daniel Boone, ( Joseph Munro has played him for 18 years) to turn the parade and to head to the four corners a half mile or more away where the Stony Creek cemetery lies.

The Fire Department followed them.

And the villagers fell behind in a wide line.

Along the way the public greeted the marchers, often with tears in their eyes. Soon the heavy rain began. Umbrellas went up. Kids came together.

The entry into the cemetery was grand.

At the cemetery families and kids, many carrying flowers, marched in and formed a semi-circle around the speakers, some of whom spoke earlier. A drum roll announced a special moment for the 99 veterans buried here, starting with the six who served in the Civil War. More than half, 55 in all, served in W.W. II. The names were slowly read aloud. 

The rain was now coming down in torrents. No one left.

Over the next half hour the families listened to Peter Brainerd, a long-time Creeker wearing his Air Force blues. Brainerd talked about Vietnam, a divisive war whose soldiers were not welcomed when they returned home. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall stands in their memory, their names in bold, and families and friends leave gifts. Websites have grown up to keep the memorial interactive.

Brainerd told the villagers more than 125,000 items have been left at the Wall and the number grows daily. In 1986 all items were declared a part of the memorial. ​“They have been identified, cataloged and saved. This is not a static memorial but a living interaction. This is a living testimony, name by name, speaking out to everyone who studies it that these were loving sons, husbands, brothers, fathers, who gave their lives in the service of their country.”

Brainerd next introduced Isabelle Bysiewicz, a student, who had memorized Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and delivered it flawlessly.

Afterwards State Sen. Ed. Meyer asked Brainerd why he spoke of Vietnam as opposed to another war. Brainerd replied: ​“I always look for something that will create interest and there are a lot of Vietnam veterans in this crowd and in the American Legion and the VFW.”

Ms. Feuer, now at the cemetery, gave the Kaddish, a prayer for the dead. She said she does this prayer each year for the Jewish veterans in the cemetery and their families. ​“It is mandatory that it be said with a minyan, a group of ten adults. ​“I know there are enough Jews in Stony Creek to say we have a minyan here today,” she said in an interview. 

Taps was played again but this time the bugle player faced the graves. All soldiers stood at attention and saluted.

The final note was sung by Pastor Charles Woody of St. Stephen’s AME Zion Church in Branford. He sang Amazing Grace. The audience applauded.

And then the children, many with their parents or grandparents, went to the graves of the veterans. They knelt and left their own gifts — -flowers, an American flag, a memento or two.

They had joined the ritual.

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