By Michael P. Walsh
Special to the Voice
Vietnam veteran Mark Levine led the city’s Memorial Day parade as grand marshal, guiding the 48-unit procession of veterans, bands and dignitaries, including Mayor Nancy R. Rossi and other city officials, along Campbell Avenue on May 29.
The parade stepped from Captain Thomas Boulevard north to Center Street, where hundreds of revelers thronged the 1.5-mile route, American flags waving, for the annual patriotic march.
Levine, 73, an Army vet who served in the Vietnam War in 1970-71, was tapped by the West Haven Veterans Council, which helps the city organize the parade, for his years of service to the military, his fellow vets and his community.
Joining the morning procession and riding shotgun in a golf cart was 101-year-old Jules Bashkin, a World War II Army veteran and a longtime saxophone player in the Connecticut-based Survivors Swing Band.
The 90-minute parade included a dramatic flyover by a C-130 Hercules, a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft operated by the Connecticut Air National Guard.
The event, in memory of the deceased members of the U.S. armed forces of all wars, is the oldest parade of its kind in southern Connecticut.
In addition to veterans groups and marching bands, anchored by the New Haven County Firefighters Emerald Society Pipes & Drums and the West Haven High School Band, the procession featured the traditional contingent of youth organizations and sports leagues, dance and Scout troupes, fraternal organizations and service clubs, local and state leaders, police officers and firefighters.
It included cheerleaders from the West Haven Seahawks, a fleet of Jeeps from the Connecticut Beach Cruisers and members of the West Haven High dance team, as well as bands from West Haven’s Rock House School of Music.
Along the route, the city promoted its popular Co-Collection Pilot Program, which is funded by a $1.3 million Sustainable Materials Management grant from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
The program has been successful in separating food scraps from the waste stream and converting them to renewable energy and soil amendments, according to city officials.
Since the pilot began in November 2022, the city has seen a 12% reduction in waste and a 38% increase in recycling.
High schoolers from West Haven marched in the parade to celebrate the program’s accomplishments to date and to highlight another city venture into sustainability: electric vehicles.
In 2021, the city purchased 10 electric Nissan Leaf cars to complement its fleet.
After the parade, a wreath-laying ceremony was held at the World War I Armistice Memorial on the Green.