The parade committee of the Port Washington Memorial Day Parade has selected George O'Dowd and Joseph F. Birk, both of Port Washington to serve as co-grand marshals of this year's Memorial Day Parade. As with his co-Grand Marshal, O'Dowd's military career in World War II was also in the Pacific Theater where he participated in the liberation of the Philippines.

O'Dowd was born in Liverpool, England and emigrated at the age of 8 to the United States with his parents, who were seeking increased opportunities in the United States. The family settled in the Woodside and Astoria sections of Queens County where O'Dowd received his elementary education. In 1943, he joined his friends and neighbors and enlisted in the Navy. He undertook basic training in seamanship at Little Creek Amphibious Training Base in Virginia.

On completion of basic training, O'Dowd was assigned with a newly assembled crew of five officers and 50 men to one of 550 Landing Ships, Medium (LSM) which was manufactured specifically for amphibious operations. His training, experience and background enabled him to serve on board in various positions including quartermaster, and bridge petty officer, which involved navigational and visual signaling duties. In the fall of 1944, O'Dowd and the crew of LSM 129 sailed to the Pacific after a brief period of service as a training ship in Norfolk, Virginia.

In January 1945, LSM 129 joined the Seventh Amphibious Force in New Guinea, the staging area for the invasion of the Philippines. The assembly of forces drew the attention of Japanese submarine fleet and O'Dowd's vessel was attacked twice while in convoys. In February, convoy ship LST 577 was attacked and split in two by Japanese torpedoes while heading to Lingayen Gulf, the site of the landing which was to liberate Manila. While still under possible attack, O'Dowd's vessel was ordered to draw alongside the stricken ship to rescue survivors. Of the personnel on board, over 200 soldiers and sailors were rescued. Unfortunately the ship eventually sunk at a cost of over 150 American lives.

For the remainder of the war, LSM 129 shuttled troops and supplies through the Philippine Islands and Borneo and was awarded two battle stars. After the war, LSM 129 returned home to the States in early 1946 and was decommissioned in Galveston, Texas. O'Dowd was honorably discharged from the Navy with the rank of quartermaster second class. O'Dowd's military service and civic concerns have afforded certain insights into the military affairs of our country. He hopes that, with our present overwhelming military power, international frictions will be settled by diplomatic means and not warfare. He depicts the present period in history as an enlightened age in which our children and their offsprings should be spared the horror of battle.

On return to civilian life, O'Dowd pursued and received a master's degree from the prestigious School of Business at Columbia University. His education drew him into the insurance business and took him to Minneapolis where he was employed as a regional vice-president. In 1961, he returned to New York where he owned and managed an independent insurance brokerage agency in Manhattan for over three decades. In 1990, he relocated his business interest to Manorhaven in Port where he began an affiliation with a business associate and dear friend, Leon Sicular, in the firm of Pension Services Inc. During his years in business, he served as an adjunct associate professor at the College of Insurance, which is now affiliated with Pace University. He retired in 1995.

In Port, O'Dowd was active over 10 years with Port Youth Activities where he was league baseball director for Port's eight and nine year olds. He is an active member of Henderson-Marino # 1819, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post. O'Dowd and his wife of 50 years, Alice, have been delighted to call Port home for over 40 years. Here they raised six children and their children have blessed them with 11 grandchildren. The concern he and his wife, Alice, have for Port continues to the present day as they serve as volunteers delivering Meals-On-Wheels to local homebound residents.

The parade committee of the Port Washington Memorial Day Parade has selected Joseph F. Birk and George O'Dowd, both of Port Washington to serve as co-grand marshals of this year's Memorial Day Parade. Joe Birk's military career in World War II closely parallels the adventurous events and exploits depicted in Hollywood's movies accounts of the Pacific Theater. Birk participated in bombing missions with the Flying Tigers, supplied Merrill's Marauders in the jungle and escorted supplies through the Burma Road.

Birk was born in Brooklyn, New York where he was educated at St. Augustine's Parochial and Brooklyn High School. Shortly after graduation, a company that manufactured naval instruments employed him for two years as a switchboard wireman. He enlisted in March 1942 and was assigned to the U.S. Army Signal Corps. After basic training, he served from February 1944 to January 1946 in China, Burma and India where his duties included radio/power plant operator, lineman and antennae construction.

In 1944, Birk operated a portable power supply, wire recorders and cameras as he fought side by side with U.S. ground and air forces. During this period, he was assigned with Master Sergeant Fred Friendly, who became a noted commercial radio announcer in the years following the war. Birk and Friendly participated in bombing missions in Burma, China and Manchuria and flew B-29s with the Twentieth Air Force and C-46 combat cargo aircraft. In January 1945, he escorted the first convoy into China over the reopened Burma Road. Among his many awards for service are the Bronze Star, the Asiatic-Pacific Service Medal with two stars, the China Medal and the New York State Distinguished Cross.

In 1947, he joined the New York City Police Department. His assignments included uniform patrol, vice investigations and a seven-year tenure as a training sergeant in Brownsville, East New York and Ozone Park. His most memorable assignment was as a supervisor in the Organized Crime Control Bureau. After 21 years service, he retired as a sergeant in 1968 and began a second career in banking with a major New York City bank.

In 1949, he married the former Josephine Haldas at St. Peter of Alcantara Church in Port. He then decided to continue his education and graduated John Jay College, CW Post and the LIU Graduate School of Accounting. Birk's family has its roots deeply entrenched in Port; his late wife, Josephine graduated with the class of '41 of Port Washington High School. Their three children graduated from Schreiber High School, James '69, Robert '70 and William '75.

Birk's commitment to life in Port is substantial and over the years he has generously contributed his time and effort to make Port a better place to live. He has served on the Sousa Band Shell Committee and the Cow Neck Historical Society. In addition, he is a director of the Greater Manhasset chapter of AARP, chancellor of the Knights of Columbus, Port Washington Branch #1227, founding member of the Park Civic Association, financial secretary of the Port Washington Columbian Club and National Commander of the China Burma India Veterans' Association. He is a member of American Legion Post 509 in Port and served on the Port Washington Police Department Charter Revision Commission. Birk has always been active in Port affairs because he views Port as a great community of people who volunteer for the benefit of all Port Washingtonians.

Birk's background has given him a heightened interest in military matters. He supported the recent military action in Iraq and felt it necessary to depose an evil ruler and free the Iraqi people. Birk continues to participate with those friends and colleagues with whom he served many years ago in World War II. He has undertaken return journeys to China for the past three years to visit with other veterans and renew old friendships with Chinese veterans of the army and air force. His zeal for public affairs was notably evident on one of these journeys when, after receiving approval from the Chinese government, he and his colleagues established a Chinese-American School in Kunming, China, where Chinese children are taught English. The curriculum includes a history of Japanese atrocities against the Chinese people from 1939 to 1945 and the remembrance of the rape of Nanking.