Occurring this Saturday, North Haven’s Memorial Day parade is an important day not only for the local community, but also for the veterans from the surrounding area who fought in America’s wars.

“This is a parade to honor the living and the deceased who served our country,” said local veteran and member of the North Haven American Legion Post 76, Charles Morrissey. Morrissey, who alongside Daniel Riccio Jr., has supervised the parade for numerous years. Morrissey was post commander from 2001 to 2004, and was succeeded by Riccio. The two still cooperate as a team for parade arrangements.

When asked how the duo work together, Morrissey said that “I did a lot of the scheduling and work on computers,” whereas Riccio would do a lot with the townspeople, getting their input. They receive the budget from the town, and they organize the parade, getting it all together and making sure it ends up right.

“It was tradition,” Morrissey said when asked why he works on the parade. “We picked up where the other guys left off.”

Morrissey says the town of North Haven has been good to the veterans, always giving them respect. There are plaques throughout town that tell individual stories of local veterans, and a cannon that lists the battles. “It’s a remembrance of the people and what they did,” Morrissey said, noting that once veterans pass away, there is at least a record of them.

As for the parade itself, a collection of groups come from all over to celebrate and honor the veterans. The Lancraft Fife and Drum has been playing at the parade since 1988, and Morrissey plans on having them again this year.

The Fire Department, Police Department, and the Medical Department make an appearance to the parade as well. Civic organizations, such as the North Haven High School baseball team, soccer team and other school groups and clubs march. The boy scouts, too, come to honor the veterans.

“Basically anyone who wants to participate does,” Morrissey said. The Silver Dolphins Honor Guard from New London comes, as well as the Governor’s Horse Guard from Avon, Connecticut, which are the oldest active mounted cavalry unit in the United States. The Marine Corps League of Connecticut also makes an appearance.

Morrissey and Riccio not only help put together the parade in May, but also work all year long to better the community and assist the veterans nearby. “All year long, Dan Riccio and myself work as veteran service officers,” Morrissey said. They help new veterans get entitlements and get their feet in the door with other local veterans, as well as help getting in touch with the state and locals to express needs for veterans.

They also work for a benefit called the “Soldiers’ Sailors’ and Marines’ Fund,” a Connecticut only group that aids veterans in a time of need. Both Riccio and Morrissey are listed on the site as the North Haven volunteers — and are proud of it.

 “My father always made sure my brother and I had the small American flags,” Morrissey said when asked what he remembers buying at parades. “The American flag was always important.”

The most pertinent part of the parade, he says, is the remembrance. To remember the veterans who volunteered their lives to assure the rest of the country would be safe.