Patriotism ran high on Sunday when the East Moriches community turned out for a Veterans Day parade that went down Main Street and ended at Soldiers and Sailors Park.
Leading the procession was Grand Marshall Pete Jepson, an EMO resident and Navy Veteran who’s part of the Patriot Guard Riders. Jepson was joined by previous Marshals Paul Haines, Lou Baer, Fred Miller, and Charles Wohr.
Also introduced by Master of Ceremonies Jimmy Osborne was the Center Moriches High School Band, local fire departments and organizations, Scouts, Seatuck Cove Rotary, and a group from the Chamber of Commerce of the Moriches, the parade’s sponsor. Local officials also turned out: County Executive Ed Romaine, Brookhaven Supervisor Dan Panico, Receiver of Taxes Lou Marcoccia, Councilwoman Karen Dunne-Kesnig, and state Assemblywoman Jodi Giglio.
Other notables were Annabel Fucci, Miriam Gillis, Wendy Walsh-DeMaria, Evan Goldstein, Gerry Sapanaro, Robin Luethardt, Kelly and Vickie Langdon, Bob Miller, Pat Blake, Kenny Mockridge, John Merkle, and many others from the surrounding community. The annual parade started in 2018 and has become a revered community event with bigger crowds each year.
Marshall Jepson memorialized two soldiers who were recently escorted home by the Patriot Riders 70 years after they were MIA in the Korean War. Sergeant First Class Israel Ramos and Sergeant First Class Raymond Hall were honored after their remains were identified through DNA and other forensic methods.
A New Yorker, SFC Ramos was captured and executed by North Korean forces in 1950 at only 18 years old. His remains were buried as “Unknown” in Honolulu until new testing techniques confirmed his identity. He was laid to rest with full military honors at Calverton National Cemetery.
SFC Hall, from Kentucky, was also captured and killed during the “Sunchon Tunnel Massacre” in 1950. Though his remains were temporarily identified, they became untraceable amid evacuation efforts in Korea. A 2017 exhumation led to positive identification in 2024, and he, too, was recently reburied with honors in Calverton.
These efforts reflect a commitment to honoring MIA soldiers, and both Ramos and Hall now rest with acknowledgment of their ultimate sacrifice.