______________
UNIONDALE _____________
HERALD
Tax Savings That Will Shock You!
BEACON
Q&A with ShA varsity coach
nUMC expands women’s health
Page 5
Page 11
THE LEADER IN PROP ERTY TAX REDUCT ION
Apply online at mptrg.com/heraldn ote or call 516.715.1266 Maidenbaum Property
$1.00 FRee
noVeMBeR 13 - 19, 2025
Hablamos Español
Tax Reduction Grou
p, LLC
Honoring those who served Veterans receive state, county citations
sacrifices,” said Maj. Anthony Telesca, the senior Army instructor for Uniondale’s Before Veterans Day was JROTC. “We want to do someofficially recognized, the U.S. thing to try and protect our Marine Corps was founded on country.” Toward the end of the cereNov. 10, 1775 — a date still honored by service members today. mony, Telesca presented a slide Uniondale High School chose show of highlights in America’s military histothat day to host its ry — from the Revoannual Veterans lutionary War to Day ceremony and Vietnam — using breakfast, bringing powerful imagery, students, veterans with musical and community accompaniment. members together Some slides showed to pay tribute to battlefields. Others those who have depicted groups of served. soldiers smiling With a solemn and hugging. Each salute and the AnThonY TeleSCA carried a different sound of drums, the message, bringing s c h o o l s K n i g h t s Senior instructor, tears to some stuBattalion presented JROTC dents’ eyes. the colors in the LitDistrict Superintendent tle Theater. Dozens of students who are Monique Darrisaw-Akil opened members of the Junior Reserve the celebration by thanking the O f f i c e r s T r a i n i n g C o r p s veterans and sharing her own arrived in uniform, joined by connections to military service. teachers, elected officials and She comes from a long line of local veterans. They gathered service members, she said, in the auditorium to hear from including a great-grandparent local leaders and service mem- and a relative who died in Vietbers who shared the personal nam. Darrisaw-Akil launched the and collective meaning of sacrifice, service and remem- annual event three years ago, when she was first appointed brance. “It’s the history of our coun- superintendent, and said she try, and it’s important to see the Continued on page 10
By STACY DRIKS
sdriks@liherald.com
Stu Goldman/Herald
Marching in tribute East Meadow’s Eisenhower Park was the site of a ceremony led by the United Veterans Organization of Nassau County on Sunday. Story, more photos, Page 3.
Library hosts veterans concert Spirited performance by L.I. Mandolin and Guitar Orchestra By STACY DRIKS sdriks@liherald.com
James Capriotti didn’t expect to be so moved. But when the first notes of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” filled the Uniondale Public Library, Capriotti, a veteran of the Vietnam War, felt the music hit home. “That one in the beginning, the Lee Greenwood one — wow,” he said afterward. “Those songs, they can bring tears to your eyes.” A Uniondale native who served in the Air Force, Capriotti was stationed at Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Vietnam in the late 1960s and early ’70s. He met his wife, Eleanor, while they were both serving — she was in Air Force communications. They have been married since 1972. “People should be proud,” Eleanor said, reflecting on the patriotic song. “Not many peo-
ple are.” “Way back then, when the Vietnam veterans came back home, they were not treated nicely,” she added. The couple were among roughly 20 people who attended a Nov. 9 concert at the library by five members of Stringtopia, the Long Island Mandolin and Guitar Orchestra, which has about two dozen musicians. The small ensemble featured Geri Rheel and Amy Noll on mandolin, Susan Weber on mandocello, Vicki Gleicher on mandola and Ken Kurshel on guitar, and they performed a wide-ranging musical tribute to America’s veterans. Held in the library’s Bookmark Cafe, the concert blended patriotic anthems with classics ranging from Irving Fields’s “Miami Beach Rhumba” to the Beatles, “Yesterday,” some of Continued on page 7
I
t’s the history of our country, and it’s important to see the sacrifices.