All photographs by Paul Goldfinger, Blogfinger.net 5/26/25. Click once to enlarge all photos. These cheerleaders are from Asbury Park.
Lou and Debbie Buonocore of Heck Avenue waiting for the parade to begin.
Neptune Township Committee. Ocean Grove, 5/26/25. Paul Goldfinger photo. Blogfinger.net. (left to right:) Tassie York, Derel Stroud, Jason Jones, and Mayor Robert Lane.
NHS Marching Fliers. 5/26/25
Part of the NHS ROTC The group was quite large.
Neptune American Legion. 5/26/25
Neptune American Legion.
By Paul Goldfinger, MD. Editor Blogfinger.net
First they said they wouldn’t and then they said they would have a Memorial Day parade.
The Scarlet Fliers Marching Band of Neptune High happily showed up, and I, for one, was glad to see them. There was the military ROTC contingent from NHS which seems to be unique in a nation where young people and the political left tend to be disdainful of the military. They were in uniform, and the group was marching in step, and it was a beautiful sight as far as I was concerned, taking pictures in my JWV dress cap.
Tom and I were observing the Neptune band go by, and I love high school marching bands. I spent 5 years in the Rutherford High School marching bands, and our uniforms made us look like school crossing guards. Five years? Well the band director was short some woodwinds, so he snatched a few of us from junior high to join the big boys and girls at football games and parades. And I was so happy doing that.
One time we performed in the Clifton Marching Band Festival, and during our show, the tall blond beautiful drum majorette who was leading us, signaled for a wrong right flank, and half the band went in the wrong direction, causing a massive groan to arise out of the stands. But my friends and I had no trouble forgiving her.
So we were happy to see them today, but I wish they had played something as they marched along Main Avenue in OG, heading towards the beach. We always enjoy the NHS band in Ocean Grove especially when they play some Sousa.
“Thank you for your service,” said a few folks to me, and I appreciated that because it was sincere, and I learned about the military as a kid because 4 of my uncles served overseas during WWII, and our family was fortunate that they came back, although many other American families were not so blessed, and it is for those who did not come back that this holiday was created.
I was in the US Navy for two years during Viet Nam, but I served those years out of danger in a Naval hospital in Virginia. However I took those thank you’s to be for those who never returned. And my hat was noticed today by the vets who were proudly parading today, mostly as color guards.
Except for the Neptune color guards and the ROTC group, and my hat, I didn’t see any other military. I did recall Mauro Bacolo who was neighbor in the Grove. He was in the military for many years, and for every patriotic holiday like this he would march in his wonderful immaculate full dress Army uniform, sometimes by himself. He was so proud, and I loved to see him go by.
Beverly Kenney