By Michael P. Walsh
Special to the Voice
Mark Levine, a Vietnam veteran and lifelong Westie, will lead the city’s Memorial Day parade as grand marshal when it steps off at 10:30 a.m. Monday.
Levine, 73, will guide the 48-unit procession of veterans, dignitaries and bands along the 1.5-mile parade route, which follows Campbell Avenue from Captain Thomas Boulevard to Center Street.
An Army veteran who served a tour of duty in the Vietnam War, he embraced the recognition with typical grace and humility.
“It’s a great honor to serve as grand marshal,” said Levine, who has marched in the parade for the past five years. “I was thrilled, honored and humbled when the West Haven Veterans Council nominated me at the April meeting.”
Levine was chosen by the Veterans Council, which helps the city organize the annual parade, for his years of service to the military, his fellow vets and his community, the latter of which is perhaps the cornerstone of the qualifications for grand marshal, council President Dave Ricci said.
“I am grateful for Mark Levine’s service to our country in Vietnam and to his service in our community,” Mayor Nancy R. Rossi said. “Mark hails from a great West Haven family, and I look forward to marching with him and so many other West Haven veterans on Memorial Day.”
The 2023 edition of southern Connecticut’s oldest and largest Memorial Day parade has no rain date and will feature three marching divisions and a military division, as well as special accommodations for disabled veterans.
The procession will include an eight-seat golf cart carrying former grand marshals that is bedecked with a star gracing the names of those deceased. Other veterans will ride on a float.
It will also include a flyover by a C-130 Hercules, a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft operated by the Connecticut Air National Guard.
Levine will steer the procession from a golf cart flanked by the West Haven Police Honor Guard.
The 90-minute parade, in memory of the deceased members of the U.S. armed forces of all wars, will showcase the city’s legion of veterans groups.
The procession will include bands from West Haven High and Bailey Middle schools, along with the Notre Dame High School Drum Line and the New Haven County Firefighters Emerald Society Pipes & Drums.
It will include cheerleaders from the West Haven Seahawks, members of the West Haven High dance team and Jeeps from the Connecticut Beach Cruisers, as well as bands from the Rock House School of Music.
The procession will also spotlight the traditional contingent of youth organizations and sports leagues, dance troupes and Scout troops, fraternal organizations and service clubs, local and state leaders, police officers and firefighters.
Levine was born to Izzy and Lilyan Levine and raised on Ida Lane in West Shore with his sisters, Robin Levine Clifford and Elisbeth Levine Brown.
His father was a concession owner who operated a game of skill at Savin Rock Park, West Haven’s bygone amusement park, and his mother served as an assistant city clerk for a quarter century.
Just over a year after he graduated from West Haven High, Levine was drafted by the Army in August 1969 at age 19. He completed basic training eight weeks later at Fort Dix, New Jersey, followed by eight weeks of advanced training as a radio operator in preparation for Vietnam.
Beginning June 4, 1970, he was stationed with the 6th Battalion, 32nd Field Artillery Regiment in the cities of Tuy Hoa and Phan Rang in south-central Vietnam. He served as a radio teletype operator, in addition to other wartime duties that included loading rounds of artillery ammunition.
Levine was honorably discharged as a specialist E-4 on April 29, 1971. He received the Army Commendation Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, a South Vietnamese military campaign medal for support of operations in Vietnam after 1960.
The Vietnam War is a story of patriots who pushed through jungles and rice paddies, heat and monsoon, fighting heroically to preserve the ideals and liberties that Americans hold dear.
From la Drang to Hue, U.S. troops won every major battle of Vietnam. Through more than a decade of combat over air, land and sea, they upheld the highest traditions of the armed forces. And more than 58,000 sacrificed all they had and all they would ever know in service to their country.
After the Army, Levine worked at the May Coat Co. factory on Congress Avenue in New Haven. He previously worked there after high school.
For the next 40 years, he worked for the Postal Service as a mail handler in New Haven, Hartford and Wallingford until his retirement in 2014.
Levine stays active as a member of West Haven Vietnam Veterans Inc. and the American Legion Post 196.
He is an avid biker, hiker, kayaker and pickleball player. He also loves to run.
He completed the New York City Marathon in 1993 and has participated in a number of charity road races.
Levine said his proudest accomplishments include giving 50 pints of blood through the years and collecting nonperishable items for the pantry at the West Haven Emergency Assistance Task Force. WHEAT, based at 674 Washington Ave., provides food for residents in need.
Levine and his wife of nearly 48 years, Joan Murphy Levine, live on Union Avenue in the Center. They have many nephews and nieces they are close to and proud of, including two great-nieces.