Nassau County is set to remember the end of World War II 80 years ago with a number of celebrations.
At a press conference held Dec. 17 at The Nassau Museum of American Armor in Old Bethpage, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman announced the creation of the Nassau County WWII Coalition for 2025 which will include multiple county museums and centers that will participate in remembering World War II 80 years later.
The coalition includes the Museum of American Armor, Cradle of Aviation Museum, Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center, Nassau County Veterans Agency, and the Long Island Chapter of the Air Force Association. They will either host or support events in Nassau County, celebrating the anniversary of the end of the war.
Blakeman said both of his parents helped in the war effort, making the upcoming celebration even more personal for him.
“I only saw my father cry on three occasions,” Blakeman said. “One when his father died, one was when my mother died, and one was when he was talking about the guys he grew up with who never came home from the war.”
Blakeman was joined by different members of the coalition.
“This milestone 80th anniversary is an extraordinary opportunity to place the lessons from this conflict before the current generation of young Americans,” Jasson Hollaren, a Museum of American Armor’s board of trustees member said.
The Museum of American Armor will be in charge of hosting a weekend-long encampment. The weekend includes an armor parade and a simulated pitched battle between opposing forces, according to the museum’s website.
The Cradle of Aviation will feature a 30-foot mural that was a WPA project. The mural will show the workers on the assembly line at the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, which played a large part in Long Island’s history during wartime.
The artist of the mural portrayed the work at Grumman and the artwork has been held in storage, according to Andy Parton, the president of the museum.
There will also be a new photo exhibit that will focus on the homefront. It will depict men and women who worked at Grumman but also the war effort that took place across Long Island, according to Parton.
“We are thrilled to be part of it, and we are going to honor, educate, and inspire,” Parton said.
Bernard Furshpan, the vice chair of the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center rolled out the museum’s plan to honor the anniversary.
There will be a photo and art exhibition that will partner with regional artists and photographers to put together an exhibit symbolizing the fight against intolerance, a candlelight vigil that will honor the 6 million Jews and millions of others who perished during the Holocaust, as well as the launching a digital archive of “80 years of memory” – a collection of media that will honor those who passed away during the war, according to Furshpan.
“Through these programs, we aim to honor their sacrifices, share their stories, and inspire future generations to stand against prejudice,” Furshpan said.
Nassau County Legislature Deputy Minority Leader Arnold W. Drucker (D – Plainview) attended the conference as well. He expressed the importance of the war and also honored one of the veterans in attendance.
“Through their victory in World War II, the Allied forces changed the course of history and freed Europe and the world from the evil clutches of Nazism and fascism – and the service of men like Morton Abuhoff was instrumental in achieving that outcome,” Drucker said.
Nearly 3% of residents in Nassau County are veterans, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“This was a war of good vs. evil,” Blakeman said. “We should never forget that.”
Nassau County held a 75th-anniversary celebration in 2020 when Laura Curran was the county executive. These will be the first anniversary events since Blakeman took office in 2022.
