Mayor Mary Marvin with Memorial Day Parade Grand Marshal Richard King.  Photo by A. Warner

Note: Below is the speech given by Mayor Mary Marvin at the Memorial Day commemoration this year.

By Mary Marvin, Mayor of Bronxville

May 31, 2023: Good morning on this beautiful Bronxville morning and welcome to the 101st annual Memorial Day parade and commemoration.

I am grateful to all who came before us in our Village for the foresight in recognizing the importance of honoring our fallen heroes with such a public demonstration of thanks and place our Veterans center stage, so we never take for granted those most deserving of our gratitude.

As it is said, we don’t know them all, but we owe them all.

I welcome here this morning our clergy, our police officers, special greeting of gratitude to Lt. Bunyan who is retiring after 40 years if exemplary service to Bronxville, Department of Public Works staff, firemen, my fellow colleagues in government who are here in an incredible demonstration of bipartisanship to honor those who have served.

To all the organizations who marched with us, we are thrilled that you participated, and you are welcome every year.

And our Grand Marshal, Richard King, our young people here today, who are our future, and finally and most importantly to our veterans, who we thank not just for their individual service, but for what they represent – character, integrity, honor, and courage. I’m sure they would agree. They are here today because others gave the supreme sacrifice.

As Thackery said, “Bravery does not go out of style.”

I believe today need not be a sad day rather an inspirational one as we honor heroes of every age by imitating their courage, their sacrifice and the legacy of freedom they bestowed upon us.

May their remembrance be as lasting as the land they saved.

The legacy of a hero is the inheritance of a great example and in our but one square mile we have an abundance of heroes. Fellow residents experienced the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Battle of the Iwo Jima and the taking of Normandy Beach. They were Seabees, flyers, artillery experts, bombardiers, engineers, Special Forces, like our Grand Marshal today, paratroopers, submariner’s and Mountain Rangers. A remarkable number of Bronxville women also served our country in very capacities and right at this moment 28 Bronxville High School candidates are serving in the military.

One Villager liberated Jewish captives through enemy blockades. Another was an original World War II Desert Rat; three were taken as prisoners of war. Many were killed in action and received purple hearts right through the war in Afghanistan. We had fathers who served in Vietnam with sons who then served in Iraq.

Thanks to Rich King and all our Village Veterans.

Our Grand Marshal Rich was the elite of the elite as a Ranger and in the Special Forces in Vietnam, Grenada and Panama. Rich you served above and beyond and this entire Village is here today to say thank you.

The rest of us are quite aware that to be born free is an accident, to live free is a privilege and to die free is our responsibility.

Let us be mindful, that most of the decision we make as mature adults, be it in government, or in life, affect the next generation so profoundly; the success of our children and their children will depend upon our good judgment, our moral compass, and our wise choices and the ability to sometimes cross a divide.

And so let us not despair during this particular moment of division in our country, but as former President and Village resident John F Kennedy said,

“Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer but the right answer.” Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past, let us rather accept our own responsibility for the future.

On a day when we come together to honor the men and women who fought and died to preserve the United States of America, we must honor their sacrifice by committing to reinforce the ties that bind us not divide us as a nation. America is a nation of hope, one of compassion, of excellence of valor and one of compromise.

As Abraham Lincoln said, “Let us then, fellow citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affections without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things.”

We owe it to all the brave Veterans here today and those whose names are etched on this beautiful flagpole and every veteran across our great nation as well as the next generation standing here today looking to us an example to fight our own battle for a United States of America.

So, on this Memorial Day 2023, may God bless our men and women protecting us today and in all the days’ past and may he comfort those who still endure the pain of war and loss and may he never cease to shed his grace on one nation under God.