Veterans Day parade honors local reverend

Hundreds of veterans, first responders, and members of community groups flocked to the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Park on a sunny Sunday to honor military service members, past and present.

The Chamber of Commerce of the Moriches hosted its fourth annual East Moriches Veterans Day Parade Nov. 6, which honored Rev. Frederick Miller as grand marshal in a ceremony at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Park, the procession’s terminus.

“A long time ago—72 years ago—a young man stepped forward in the Korean War and said, ‘I will serve my country and I will defend my country,’” Brookhaven Town supervisor Ed Romaine said. “Seventy-two years later, that young man, no longer young, sitting before us, is our honoree and our grand marshal. As long as we have young men and women like Fred here, this country has nothing to fear.”

Miller served as an Air Force medic during the Korean War from 1950 to 1954, before serving 20 years at Nassau University Medical Center, where he was chief of parasitology. In 1980, he joined the Trulight Ministry in Shirley.

“I’ve actually never worked in my life,” Miller said. “I’ve always had such a joy out of what I’ve done, I’ve never considered it work.”

Following retirement, he became active in the Arthur H. Clune American Legion Post 1533, in Mastic Beach, and kicked off the Veterans Peer-to-Peer Program in 2013. He taught 150 legion members to help veterans combat moral injuries, or internal morality crises.

“We stopped 11 suicides that were not PTSD; they were moral injury,” Miller said.

At 90 years old, Miller believes he still has more service to provide. He plans to expand his peer program into Nassau County, and to make change on an even larger scale, he hopes to popularize the term “post-traumatic stress injury” due to stigmas surrounding the word “disorder.”

“The difference is, stress in the arm causes a strain; it’s an injury,” he explained of his preferred terminology. “Any other part of the body, stress causes an injury. Then why doesn’t it cause an injury in the brain? When it does.

“I’ve talked to over 100 vets who’ve refused medical help primarily because they do not want the label for the rest of their life as having a disorder,” he continued.

Every year, the VA releases its “National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report.” This year, the report states that in 2020, an average of 16.8 veterans died by suicide every day.

If you’re a veteran in crisis or know someone who is, the Veterans Crisis Line offers confidential support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Dial 988 then press 1 for immediate support.

Feeling the pulse for the parade

While the parade procession continuously draws overwhelming community participation, only a few hundred spectators lined E. Main Street at this year’s event.

“I thought the turnout of the participants was very, very good,” Robert Galbraith, commander of the VFW Post 414, said. “I would like to see more of the general public out there, though.”

Of course, there are still plenty of stalwarts of the parade and their community’s veterans.

“This is what keeps our country together,” William Krammer said of the veterans before they passed him and his wife, Jaime Krammer, and their two children, EJ and Jack. “My 5-year-old is super into this. We come every year; it’s extremely important.”

Among the crowd at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Park was another couple eager to support the veterans of Moriches: Vietnam veteran Miguel Rivera and his wife Kathryn Rivera, of Mastic. After Miguel Rivera was asked to participate in the parade, he and his wife took a drive to the park and realized they had to implement a change.

“We looked up and we said, ‘Wow, the flags are kind of sad,’” Kathryn Rivera said of the flags for each branch of the military that flew above the park.

The couple ordered and donated six new branch flags for the park, and Kathryn Rivera, who runs Ribbon Wreaths by Kathryn online, donated four wreaths to match four of the flags. Dennis Hogan of East Moriches donated the additional two wreaths.

After riding through the procession and receiving a thank-you card from a Raynor Country Day School student, Miguel Rivera appeared in good spirits.

“It’s beautiful, it’s heartwarming,” he said of the celebration. “It makes you feel good, appreciative.”