May
Day
During the cold war of the 1950’s, every May 1st,
the U.S.S.R. paraded their tanks and artillery through the streets of Moscow. On
TV and movie Newsreels, we saw proud Soviet leaders overlooking the parade from
a balcony in Red Square. To counter this show of might, the City of New York had
parades for peace throughout the five boroughs.
In
Brooklyn, we marched up Flatbush Avenue, around Grand Army Plaza and down
Eastern Parkway. My school wore our school sweaters of purple and gold. One
student carried the school flag with the name Bishop McDonnell Memorial High
School emblazoned in gold letters upon a field of purple. Another carried the
American flag and a third carried a Diocesan flag, gold lettering on a white
background.
I
looked forward to the event every year, not so much for the parade but because
it meant a day off from school. It seemed like a celebratory march, well not a
march really, more of an amble. We walked in groups of friends and made plans
for afterwards. Usually, we gathered in Judds,
our favorite after school soda shop to play the juke box and drink cokes.
My
high school, a Diocesan college prep school, took only the brightest eighth
graders from each parish of Brooklyn. I felt it an honor to be accepted,
especially since my parents threatened me with public school if I didn’t get
into “Bishop’s”. The local public school, Manual Training High, took everyone
else and taught them a trade. We thought the kids from “Manual” were dummies
who couldn’t make it scholastically…how arrogant we were.
It never occurred to me
that some kids would rather learn a trade than go to college. I realized it
when my nephew graduated high school with honors and told his parents “I love
working on cars. I’d rather be an auto mechanic.”
We marched on May 1std
in response to the Soviet’s armament parade but May 2nd was also a
significant date. On that day in 1945, Russian troops entered Berlin and the
second World War had effectively ended although the official surrender occurred
6 days later.
I’m not sure how long
these peace parades went on in N.Y. After graduation, I no longer followed school
events. Bishop’s closed its doors in 1972 and reopened later as a school for
the deaf. I thought it ironic that I have a deaf child and my high school now
teaches deaf children.
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