This weekend many local communities will be pausing to honor fallen heroes in Memorial Day observances, reflecting on those who gave their lives in service to our country. In East Greenbush, the recent loss of one of their own in a helicopter crash on the Texas-Mexico border is still very raw. NEWS 10 has an exclusive look at how Casey Frankoski's life of service in the National Guard and her town will be recognized in the Memorial Day parade, Saturday.
EAST GREENBUSH, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Many local communities will be pausing to honor fallen heroes in Memorial Day observances, reflecting on those who gave their lives in service to our country. In East Greenbush, the recent loss of one of their own in a helicopter crash on the Texas-Mexico border is still very raw. NEWS 10 has an exclusive look at how Casey Frankoski's life of service in the National Guard will be recognized in the Memorial Day parade, Saturday.
“This is a picture that was chosen by Casey's mom and dad John and Jill. I think it's absolutely beautiful and she's so proud,” said Mickey Jenkins.
Family friends of the Frankoskis, Mickey and Frank Jenkins came up with the idea for the float to honor fallen veterans and Casey is seen right at the front of it. “We had this all planned prior to what happened with Casey and when God forbid that happened it was like we need to do something a little extra,” said Frank Jenkins.
Casey’s grandpa Ray will be riding in the truck pulling the float. Mickey says many people came together to make this a reality. “It took a lot of creative minds, everybody kept ordering supplies from different places. As you saw before, my husband drew a map,” said Jenkins.
“We were in our normal meeting. We were just tossing around ideas. While everybody was talking, I was listening to the ideas and started drawing what my idea was. And it's really a combination of everybody's, what we thought we could do and what we thought would look nice,” said her husband Frank.
The float was originally designed to carry the Hero Banners honoring local members of the military. “We started this because we created the banner program for the town of East Greenbush and during this, everything with Casey, John and Chris happened, and we wanted to continue because Jill just kept saying please don't forget Casey,” said Mickey. “Casey is a force. She'll never be forgotten!”
Casey's banner now hangs with dozens of others along routes 9, 20 and 4 in East Greenbush. The banner program just started, and it's already grown. “I wanted it to really scream hero you know I didn't want something that just kind of like fades into the background, I wanted the heroes themselves to be the center of attention when you drive down the street, I want you to know how much we appreciate them and what they did for us,” said banner designer Taylor Tibbetts.
Town Board Member Edward Nestler pitching in his part for the float, sharing a special message as we begin the somber holiday weekend. “Memorial Day is not about a veteran it's about the ones that didn't make it back or the ones that have passed on so we thought this float especially with Casey being one of our most recent ones to fall would be a great honor to have her on there,” said Nestler.
