REMEMBERING BROOKLYN LONGSHOREMEN: During Fourth of July festivities in Brooklyn for 2008, community leaders and ILA members gathered to rededicate a flagpole which once stood in front of the ILA Brooklyn Medical Center on Court Street. Through the efforts of John L. Heyer, a local community leader from the Brooklyn Borough President’s Office, and Salvatore “Buddy” Scotto, the flagpole was moved just a few blocks from Court Street to 106 First Place in Brooklyn. On Tuesday, July 1, 2008 with scores of retired ILA members present and while the National Anthem was played by Xaverian High School Band in Brooklyn, the American Flag was raised and the flagpole was rededicated. A plaque at the base of the flagpole reads: Generations of longshoreman have worked tirelessly to better the lives of their families, improve their neighborhoods, and bring economic prosperity to Brooklyn, and it is to each and every one of them that this flagpole is dedicated. In the photo above, ILA members surround the flag and are joined by Buddy Scotto (far left); Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz (second from left); John L. Heyer (fourth from left) and Brooklyn Assemblywoman Joan L. Millman (center). Most Reverend Bishop Frank Caggiano (not pictured), whose late father was a career longshoreman and member of ILA Local 1814, delivered the Invocation and blessed the flagpole.