Bill Barlow

OCEAN CITY — Memorial Day brings everyone in America together, said Alan Shapiro, a World War II veteran honored Monday.

“It is something that is sometimes lost on us,” Shapiro said, addressing hundreds of people who gathered at Veterans Memorial Park for the annual observance.

Now 100, Shapiro flew a C-47 military plane during the invasion of Normandy in 1944.

While much of the weekend was focused on beaches, the economy or whether teenagers would be a problem , at that moment, under brilliant sunshine, those crowded around the city’s memorials remembered those lost in combat and honored those who served and came home.

That included a presentation for Gold Star mothers, those who have had children killed in action, as well as a reading of names of city residents who wer

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