Fort Hamilton heralds its 200th anniversary

On Friday, June 13, the Army Garrison at Fort Hamilton pulled out all the stops to celebrate and commemorate its bicentennial. 

The festive event was held on the Engeldrum Bluff with live music from invited bands, on-site food trucks, tent displays from vendors and public service units like USO, RedCross, BRAVO and FDNY. 

Coinciding with the Army’s 250th anniversary, Army Brig. Gen. Sara Dudley, deputy commanding general with the U.S. Army Recruiting Command, was at the base to swear in 11 new Army recruits. The program of events ended with a booming, spectacular fireworks salute.

However, there was one major disappointment. The scheduled appearance by the West Point Band was cancelled because they were deployed to Washington, D.C.,  to prepare for the Flag Day military parade celebrating the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary.

Fort Hamilton was designed by Army engineer  Simon Bernard in 1825. He actually set the cornerstone. Construction wasn’t completed until July 10, 1831. The first commanding officer, Capt. Levi Whiting of the 4th Artillery, F Battery, took command on Nov. 1, 1831. He was born in  Lancaster, Mass. After moving on to another duty assignment, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. He died in Connecticut in August 1852 at age 62. 

***

The nation’s oldest Flag Day parade takes place in lower Manhattan. This year it was celebrated on Friday, June 13. It started at 12 p.m. from City Hall Park, then proceeded down Broadway to the grandstand at Fraunces Tavern on Pearl Street. The Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York have been hosting this parade since 1916. It commemorates the adoption of the American flag on June 14, 1777 by the Second Continental Congress.

***

Get ready for another old-fashioned patriotic march as the 118th Brooklyn Independence parade gets under way on Sunday, June 29, along Fifth Avenue in Sunset Park from 59th Street to 44th Street, kicking off at 11:15 a.m.

Grand marshals are American Revolutionary reenactors, historians and civic activists Michael Grillo, uniformed as Gen.George Washington, and Norman Goben as a Continental Army soldier. The parade chairman is Sean Flanagan, a retired NYPD lieutenant and still-active bagpiper with the NYPD’s Emerald Society Pipe and Drum Corps. 

This annual red, white and blue celebration holds the distinction of being  the oldest Independence Day march in the city.

Prior to the start of the parade, the Knights of Columbus from the Brooklyn-based Long Island Assembly will participate in a mass to be celebrated at 10  a.m. by Father Kevin Molloy at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Fifth Avenue and 60th Street.

Immediately following the mass, a brief ceremony will be held presenting the parade group’s Pro Patria Award posthumously to Father Ruskin Piedra of OLPH, and the Father John Brogan Community Service Award to Steven Kiernan, plus plaques to the two grand marshals.