lesliepear | Article that mentions Gov Corzine's visit to the Street fair yesterday

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

By SCOTT FALLON, DOUGLASS CROUSE and MARGARET K. COLLINS
STAFF WRITERS

Maj. Eric Shuler stood at a lectern near a war monument in Oradell on Monday morning and brought home the grim reminder of why Memorial Day is held.

The National Guardsman who was called up for duty when he was 43 recalled the "hollow feeling" of hearing the week's casualties while he was stationed in Mosul, Iraq, far from his wife and two sons.

"Every Sunday, Father Jim would announce the names of the fallen," he said, "and every time I'd pray it would end."

Shuler asked each of the several hundred people around him to learn the name, and perhaps even the story, of at least one American service member killed in action.

Solemn services like the one in Oradell were played out in nearly every town in Bergen, Passaic, Morris and Hudson counties Monday.

Veterans and young soldiers alike gathered in parks to place wreaths, play taps and salute the fallen. Several towns featured veterans of the Iraq war giving speeches and leading parades.

Temperatures that hovered near 90 degrees disrupted one event on Monday, as a dozen members of a youth marching band from the Bronx were taken to four area hospitals with heat exhaustion after participating in the Closter parade. Police said the children, ranging in age from 11 to 16, had marched in another parade earlier in the day.

"I feel that the real heroes are the ones in caskets," said Rey Madlansacay, of the Air Force Reserves, as he marched down Valley Road in Wayne's parade.

"As medics, we see the casualties, including civilians and often children," said Madlansacay, who returned from Afghanistan in March. "Every week we had to line the streets of the base in Afghanistan and salute a casket as it went by -- someone killed by small arms fire, an accident or skirmish."

Army Lt. Craig Robertson, 21, had more pressing things on his mind as he watched the parade in Pequannock. This week he will head to Fort Benning, Ga., for airborne training. Eventually he will be sent to the Middle East.

"Today is a day to remember those serving from the past to the present," he said.

During a service at Veterans Park in Hackensack, U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman, D-Fair Lawn, read the names, ranks and hometowns of all 57 soldiers from New Jersey who have died in the war in Iraq.

Rothman had drawn both praise and criticism when he called for a troop withdrawal in February. Monday, he said, was not the time to inject politics into the ceremony.

"Whether you like the war or don't like the war, today is a day to honor the men and women who are serving," he said. "We're here today to say, 'We honor your sacrifice.' "

Rothman's opponent in the 9th District this November, Republican Vince Micco, gave the keynote speech at Bogota's ceremony Monday. The Iraq war veteran called on "armchair warriors in Washington" to stop calling for a pullout before Iraq is stabilized.

"I want people to know that the soldiers today in Iraq and Afghanistan are fighting just as hard for America as the boys who hit the Omaha Beach in 1944," he said. "They deserve our respect and our support."

Governor Corzine spent about half an hour at the Cedar Lane Spring Festival in Teaneck, shaking hands and posing for pictures with dozens of festivalgoers who hovered around him in the stifling heat. Less popular was Sen. Robert Menendez, who's up for election in November: He stood off to the side shaking an occasional hand.

County Executive Dennis McNerney, who is seeking reelection in November, straddled the line between public servant and campaigner, hitting a half-dozen events Monday.

"It used to be Labor Day, but it's getting earlier," McNerney said of the start of campaign season, as an aide handed out a leaflet. "July 4 is when you really start getting out."

In one of the more unusual events Monday, 10 members of the foreign press witnessed Fort Lee's ceremonies as part of a U.S. State Department program.

"They wanted to see what typical Americans do on this holiday," Mayor Jack Alter said.

Toward the end of the Oradell service, World War II veteran John Granito paused as he walked along the sidewalk. He recalled being drafted in his early 20s.

Over the course of the war he lost four close friends to enemy fire.

Now 89, he said he hopes the nation's war in Iraq will be resolved soon.

Yet he sees little reason for optimism.

"I wish the kids would come home," Granito said, "but it seems like it's going to be forever."

After collecting himself, he went on.

"I get tears in my eyes when I think about it," he said. "You get on the ship or that plane and you think, 'Mama, will I ever see you again?' "

E-mail: fallon@northjersey.com, crouse@northjersey.com and collinsp@northjersey.com

I didn't even notice that our US senator was there.