The Bayonne Memorial Day Parade will take place on Memorial Day, Monday, May 26, 2025.  Since 2022, the City of Bayonne has worked in conjunction with the veterans of the Memorial Day Parade Committee to organize the parade. Mayor Jimmy Davis said, “As the son of a proud Korean War veteran, I am glad that the veterans and the City of Bayonne have worked together successfully on the parade.” 

The grand marshal of the 2025 parade will be former Mayor Richard A. Rutkowski, who served in the U.S. Army in the 1950’s.  He was posted to Iran, where he trained Iranian troops.  He shook hands with the Shah of Iran.  Rutkowski was at the Russian border during the Iraqi crisis of 1958.  Following his military service, former Mayor Rutkowski became active in various veterans’ posts, including: American Polish Vets, Catholic War Veterans Post 1612, Joyce-Herbert VFW Post 226, and Cpt P.J.E. Hogan Disabled American Veterans Chapter 5.  Along with many other veterans, Rutkowski speaks at the historic Joyce-Herbert V.F.W. Post 226 Veterans Museum, educating our youth and community about our military history.

Pete Amadeo, the Supervisor of the City of Bayonne’s Recreation Division, has worked with Barry Jones, the parade chairman, and the other veterans on the Memorial Day Parade Committee to invite various organizations to take part in the parade in both 2022 and 2023.   Mr. Jones is an Army veteran from the Vietnam era.

There will be a ceremony at the traditional start of the parade on Memorial Day, Monday, May 26, at 10:00 a.m., at Fifth Street by the World War I Monument.   Immediately after the ceremony, the march will begin at 5^th Street and will proceed up Broadway.   It will pass the reviewing stand in front of American Legion Post 19 and will end at 32^nd Street and Broadway. 

Any organizations still wishing to march, please contact Pete Amadeo at 201-858-6127 or email bayonnerec@aol.com.  

Mayor Davis stated, “From the American Revolution to the present, more than 42 million Americans have served in our military during war.  Of them, more than one million died in the service, whether in battle or elsewhere during wartime.”  Mayor Davis concluded, “Veterans often remind us that ‘freedom is not free.’ That means that America’s fighting men and women have purchased our freedom with their sacrifices since 1775.  We owe our freedom and our way of life to them. Please show your gratitude for those who gave their lives for our country by coming to the memorial ceremonies and to the parade.”