Glen Cove becomes a Purple Heart City

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In a celebration outside City Hall, Glen Cove Mayor Timothy Tenke formally declared Glen Cove A Purple Heart City on Aug. 7. According to the Military Order of The Purple Heart, the status serves as a way for a city or municipality to acknowledge its citizens who have been awarded the Purple Heart and pledges to honor and support them.

“I’m proud to represent a city that values its veterans as much as Glen Cove does,” Tenke said. “Veterans are the cornerstone of our community, and I am honored to be able to thank them with this declaration.”

The Purple Heart award is presented as a result of serving as a member in, or with the Armed Forces of the United States, and having been killed or wounded, or died of wounds while engaged in combat with an enemy force, or as a result of international terrorism, or being a Prisoner of War. Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton said that those who earned the Purple Heart deserved the gratitude and recognition of their community after they had “put their lives on the line for their neighbors and nation.”

“Glen Cove is a compassionate community that especially cares about our veterans, and we want to make sure all of their physical and emotional needs are met,” said DeRiggi-Whitton. By becoming a Purple Heart City, Glen Cove is committing to this principle in both word and deed.”

Along with the designation, the city will put up signs at the entryways of Glen Cove that state its status as a Purple Heart City. These signs will also go up near monuments throughout Glen Cove. The signs were shown off during an adaptive bicycle tour around Glen Cove with Purple Heart recipient Chris Levy and local Boy Scout Genalie Prezeau.

In a show of support for the local veteran community, Tenke designated a number of parking spots in the city as Combat Wounded Veteran parking. New York Director of the Military Order of The Purple Heart Robert Chiappone, said he was proud to accept Glen Cove’s proclamation and added that both Nassau and Suffolk counties are Purple Heart Counties.

“[The City] of Glen Cove came through for the combat wounded veterans and all our veterans, to show that we are not forgotten,” Chiappone, a Vietnam Veteran, said. “Seeing these signs make us all proud.