Scarsdale Honors Veterans on a Blustery November Day

Scarsdale honored veterans past and present at the annual Veterans Day Ceremony at Boniface Circle in Scarsdale on the morning of November 11, 2025. A blast of wintery weather chilled the crowd of veterans, village managers, elected officials, police, firefighters, scouts, and onlookers.

Boy and Girl Scouts provided hot coffee and bagels and assisted in the flag raising and laying of wreaths at the memorial.

The event was led by Deputy Village Manager Stephen Shallo, with a benediction from Minister Kelly Rogers and remarks from Dominic A. Morelli, Commander, Scarsdale Post 52.

The Scarsdale Fire and Police Honor Guard opened and closed the event.

Here are remarks from Trustee Ken Mazer

Good morning and welcome. I’m Ken Mazer, a member of the Village Board of Trustees. Today we gather to honor and celebrate all the men and women who served in uniform to protect our nation, our future, and our commitment to freedom and democracy around the world.

A great number paid the ultimate price, including many in Scarsdale - their names are listed in the 2 memorials in our village. Sometimes when I’m in the village center, I’ll stroll by pondering the plaques right here listing the 82 Scarsdale residents who gave their lives battling back the terrors that threatened our way of life during World War II. Who were they? What were they thinking in their last minutes of battle? How did their families manage to carry on? How did the casualties impact a Scarsdale community that’s much smaller than today? What would have become of them had they survived? Thinking about these men, in this way, makes their sacrifice and their courage more present, more fresh, and more appreciated, as if it all had just happened.

Of course, most men and women survive their service, from peacetime and battle, but they still endure their own burdens, from the tedious to the unimaginable, as they serve a cause greater than their own.

Together all these brave souls have committed themselves to make our lives - here, now, today - freer and safer just as our founding fathers had hoped when our nation was born almost 250 years ago.

I think this is the context we must never forget when we navigate today’s polarized political climate. It is more than our veterans having just preserved a country where we can speak our mind and our differences. It’s that fundamentally regardless of whatever sets us apart - ethnicity, income, political ideology or religion - deep down we share the same fundamental values that our veterans fought for and that make the US the only country where we would ever want to live and raise our children.

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It’s with deep gratitude, channeling all of Scarsdale, that I say "May God bless our veterans.”

Photos by Jordan Copeland