Ed Segall … The Man, The Myth, The Legend
For a quarter-century, the ritual never changed.
As the sun began to set over Sandy Hook Bay each summer evening, a man with a white beard grabbed a microphone at a seaside restaurant and began talking about pride and sacrifice, patriotism and service. He invoked the nation’s war dead, welcomed visitors from other countries, asked everyone to stand up, take off their hats, hold hands with the strangers at the next table, and give thanks.
“The freedom you enjoy did not come free,” Ed Segall said. Then he led everyone in singing “God Bless America” with the song invariably ending, to applause and a few tears, just as the sun dipped over the horizon.
So wrote Reporter Peter Applebombe in the New York Times in August 2013, the year after the famed Sea Gull’s Nest at Sandy Hook was wiped out forever after Hurricane Sandy.
Even so, Reporter Applebombe only told part of the story. The natives knew even more.
If you came up to the Sea Gull’s Nest, you better be a patriot. You don’t take your hat off for the Pledge, or sing God Bless America with fervor, you would be invited to leave. It rarely came to that. Once Ed’s practice of a nightly thank you for our country became tradition, it would be the guests who would unceremoniously invite any non-patriot to leave before he got in trouble.
This July 4, in addition to remembering Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, two Signers of the Declaration, it’s a time to remember Ed Segall, who died Feb 3 of this year at age 96.
Jefferson and Adams, the two Patriots, Presidents, political enemies and true friends, died in their homes, Jefferson in Charlottesville, Virginia, Adams in Quincy, Massachusetts on the 50th anniversary of their daring and brave declaration that Americans should not have to pay taxes without representation nor pay allegiance to a King an ocean away.
But Ed Segall was a man for the 20th century, a man who grew up in Newark, the son of a Romanian immigrant and a mom who raised her nine children alone after her husband’s death.
Ed was one of four brothers who fought in World War II, one of only three who came home safely.
Ed turned to boxing as a hobby as well as college coach and ended up a Golden Gloves welterweight champ. He ran an ice cream truck to get himself through college and later concessions at state parks before founding his own trucking company.
In 1962, before it was Gateway National Recreation Area, Ed started snack bars and a souvenir shop as the concessionaire for what was then Sandy Hook State Park with all its magnificent beaches. And after the federal government took over the park as a national recreation area, they even built the building and gave Ed the concession rights to what became known as the Sea Gull’s Nest, Ed Segall’s popular and only eatery on Sandy Hook.
Hundreds of local kids got their first work experience and made their first money working at Ed’s Sea Gull’s Nest. They came back during and after college, bringing along through the years the next generation of folks who will forever keep Sea Gull’s Nest a great party of their memory.
But when Sandy destroyed the first floor of this magnificent site on the beach wiping out all the electrical stuff that kept grills and refrigerators working, and Ed’s insurance company only covered the cost of a small part of it, he knew he was in trouble. The Park Service didn’t want to finance the repairs to their own building, rather, they wanted Ed to run concession stands, kinda going back to how he started.
He fought. He fought hard. But the NPS is a big organization, they owned the land, and Ed Segall and his patriotic nightly rituals, became a thing of the past. Every Summer beachgoer cried along with Ed Segall, but the Sea Gull’s Nest became history. So did the nightly National Anthem and God Bless America at the national recreation area.
The feisty Jewish patriot did have some recognition after he lost his business though.
Fuzz Harrison was the commanding officer at NWS Earle. He knew all the stories that Ed talked about how the ships over at the Earle Pier in Leonardo would blink their lights to say thanks to him. He knew all the Sailors who could relax, be applauded by crowds and feel appreciated at the Sea Gull’s Nest when Ed called for patriotic moments and everyone complied. Capt. Harrison himself visited the Nest many times, always appreciated, always honored, and always in awe of Ed’s patriotism.
So at his own change of command ceremony, Capt. Harrison invited Ed to be his guest at the military ceremonies over in Colts Neck. He told his story and called Ed up to be recognized. Capt. Harrison led the crowd, which included two admirals, two captains and dozens of military and civilians and invited them all to hold hands, face that huge American flag ever present at Earle, and then invited Ed to lead the crowd in singing “God Bless America.” The tears in this patriot’s face flowed freely as he accepted thee honors from the people he most admired and always protected and appreciated.
When you think of July 4, you think of Patriotism. And when you think of patriotism, you think of Ed Segall. Legend Legend Legend Legend Legend Legend Legend Legend Legend Legend
