By Shirley Lew, AsAmNews staff writer
Memorial Day is to honor the fallen men and women in the military. American Legion Lt. B.R. Kimlau Post 1291 in Manhattan’s Chinatown, certainly did not forget to do so.
Their parade and ceremony was more poignant with last year’s passage of the Congressional Gold Medal for Chinese American World War II veterans, as expressed by veteran and Judge Randall Ng. President Trump signed the Congressional Gold Medal Act into law just before the Federal shutdown in December 2018.
“I want to recognize the recipients of the Congressional Gold Medal. You, my friends earned it. The recognition is long over due. At our Post, there are only 43 remaining World War II veterans, “ said Ng during the ceremony.
The parade route started on Mott and Canal Streets. As the veterans and members of the Auxiliary and Sons of The American Legion marched, tourists and locals along the parade route clapped and cheered.
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Longtime participants of this ceremony felt the absence of World War II veteran and Chairman Peter Woo, who died last winter, Ng remembered him during the ceremony as a successful businessman after his military service. He credited Woo for his wisdom and vision and for the completion of the KimLau Memorial Arch where the ceremony took place. It was also Woo that contributed greatly to the purchase of 191 Canal Street, the six story building that has been the home of Post 1291 for many decades.
The KimLau Memorial Arch was dedicated in 1962, 19 years after my children’s great-grand-father, a World War II veteran was honorably discharged. The top of the arch reads, “In memory of the Americans of Chinese ancestry who lost their lives in defense of freedom and democracy.” As a child, I saw this marble arch all my life and it had no meaning to me other than I realized it stood for something important. Now, I’m personally connected to this arch and its acknowledgement to my people that make me so very proud.
The Congressional Gold Medal ceremonies and the unveiling of the medal for the Chinese American World War II veterans is expected in to be held in late Fall of this year in Washington DC and other selected cities still to be announced.
The Chinatown ceremony included a gun salute and the laying of two wreaths at the pillars of the memorial arch with local officials, Queens Councilman Peter Koo and NYC Council member Margaret Chin. Over a hundred people attended this one and only Memorial Day parade and ceremony in Lower Manhattan.
The only other parade was held in the most northern part of Manhattan by American Legion Inwood Post 581.
Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day, which started after the Civil War and only became a federal holiday in 1971.
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