Around Town

PHOTOS: New Canaan Marks Memorial Day with Parade, Ceremony

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The Rev. Dr. R. Scott Herr of First Presbyterian Church of New Canaan addressed more than 300 residents gathered at Lakeview Ceremony following Monday morning’s Memorial Day parade to “remember and give thanks for the patriots who have given their lives in service to our great nation and the service of peoples around the world who desire justice, freedom and peace.”

“Today we honor those men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice to defend our Constitution and our democracy,” Herr continued during an opening prayer to the ceremony organized each year by the Howard M. Bossa and Peter C. Langenus Post 653 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States. “We are free to worship here today because they were brave, and we live by the light of the flame of liberty they kept burning. As we remember those who gave their lives to defend our freedoms, we also pray for other peoples in the world who seek democracy—especially the people of Ukraine and Russia, and pray for a just and lasting peace between those people. We also remember those innocent victims in places like Buffalo and Uvalde, and how truly fragile a free a peaceful society is. As we honor those from all races and religions who served in the Armed Forces, we pray for courage and wisdom to be a people who heal our divisions, right our wrongs and bring unity here at home.

Around Town

New Canaan’s Memorial Day Parade and Ceremony Return [PHOTOS]

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Brian Platz’s grandfather was in his mid-20s, with three children, when he was drafted into the U.S. Marines toward the end of World War II. 

Platz on Monday morning recalled that his grandfather “would tell us that we were actually running out of men.”

“The draft began, if I remember him correctly, with single men aged 18 to 26,” Platz—himself a U.S. Marines veteran, known to many New Canaanites as the town’s chief building official—told about 300 people gathered at Lakeview Cemetery for a Memorial Day ceremony. “Then went to married men 18 to 26. Married with one child. Married with two. Married with three.