Gabreski’s Kevin Carrick Announced as the Grand Marshal Of New York's Veterans Day Parade

Kevin Carrick, a former United States Air Force pararescueman based in Westhampton, has been named grand marshal of the New York City Veterans Day Parade, slated for Veterans Day, Thursday, November 11.

The United War Veterans Council, the organizer of the parade, announced Mr. Carrick’s selection during an event in Times Square on September 18. In a social media post, organizers wrote that they “surprised” Mr. Carrick, 62, with the news the week prior, during a visit to the 106th Rescue Wing at Westhampton’s Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base.

“I’ve been retired for 18 years — kind of fading off into the sunset, as you do when you retire,” Mr. Carrick, of Riverhead, said in a phone interview. “They looked at what I did and what I was about, and it fit the bill and they liked it.”

In a press release, parade organizers lauded Mr. Carrick’s service both in overseas combat and in New York, noting his rank of senior master sergeant.

“He participated in countless civilian rescues on sea and land, jumping in to save New Yorkers and other individuals beyond the reach of other rescue efforts,” the release stated.

In a tribute befitting of the public health crisis’s circumstances, the first Veterans Day Parade during the coronavirus pandemic will honor a life-saver. Mr. Carrick is a former Air Force pararescueman, the only part of the nation’s Special Forces primarily dedicated to saving lives.

He was based at Gabreski Airport for most of his career, he said.

Pararescuemen, a division of the United States Air Force, recover injured individuals in combat and humanitarian situations. Their nearly two years of training includes emergency medical technician skills, survival techniques, diving courses and parachuting.

“[Mr. Carrick’s] Air Force career spanned over [four] decades of service to our country including aerospace rescue and recovery, maritime rescue missions out to and beyond 300 miles off the coast of NYC,” organizers wrote on social media.

Mr. Carrick said the recognition and opportunity was a “huge honor,” particularly because he has the opportunity to represent and spotlight the pararescue field.

In a career spanning 25 years — he joined the New York Air National Guard in 1978 and retired in 2003 — Mr. Carrick served the New York area through some of the region’s most significant tragedies.

This includes, in 1996, recovering materials and victim’s remains from the crash site of Trans World Airlines Flight 800. The Boeing 747 broke up in mid-air before careening into the waters off East Moriches in 1996, killing all 230 passengers and crew on board.

“I was in charge of the team that went out there, so I stayed back at the command post and then kind of ran it all,” he said.

Mr. Carrick also recounted helping firefighters fight the 1995 Sunrise Wildfires, transporting supplies to those on the front lines.

“So it wasn’t what we’d normally do … but I have no problem taking a backseat to support people,” he said.

And on September 11, 2001, his team was brought to Ground Zero to aid in the recovery process. He described arriving on scene that day as a surreal experience.

“It was something you’ll never forget, something that’s just kind of beyond what you would think we would ever have to comprehend in this country,” Mr. Carrick said.

But on that day of immense tragedy, he was reminded of his mission as a pararescueman.

“Our whole existence is to rescue people, provide medical care and get them to a medical facility as quick as possible,” he shared. “So that’s what we started to do.”

On Veterans Day this year, Mr. Carrick said he hopes to bring his grandchildren on the float with him and looks forward to reflecting on the occasion alongside thousands of other U.S. military veterans.

“I’m looking forward to all the festivities and hoping for a really good Veterans Day,” he said.