Memorial Day ceremonies honor fallen military across LA County ...Middle East

Across Los Angeles County, ceremonies solemn and stirring filled cemeteries, city halls and neighborhood streets, honoring the nation’s fallen armed forces members on Memorial Day.

With a theme of “Saluting the Price of Freedom,” the Canoga Park Memorial Day Parade rolled out for the 33rd time at the intersection of Sherman Way and Owensmouth Avenue, with classic cars, marching bands, veterans groups and more rolling on to Cozycroft Avenue.

The event included its annual wreath-laying at the Wall of Honor and remarks by retired U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Mike Shatynski, the parade’s grand marshal. Local, state and federal elected officials also attended.

On the coast, LA Fleet Week planned to close out its four-day salute to the U.S. military with a Memorial Day Observance on Monday evening, with the presentation of colors and a keynote speaker among the highlights of the ceremony, scheduled fittignly in front of the USS Battleship Iowa off San Pedro.

Standing firm after a setback last week, the Paramount Elks Club soldiered on with its “Honoring and Remembering” ceremony at Veterans Memorial Plaza in the city’s Civic Center.

A statue honoring fallen veterans was vandalized just days before this year’s event. The community plans to repair the statue, but there wasn’t time to do the work before this year’s ceremony.

The event included a roll call of deceased veterans, recognition of veterans in attendance, the playing of “Taps” and a wreath laying.

Some pieces of the “Battlefield Cross and Soldier” statue at the Paramount Armed Forces Memorial were discovered to have been sawed off and stolen days before.

The life-size memorial, installed in November, portrays a kneeling soldier paying tribute to a fallen comrade.

“Shame on you for hurting the hearts of people whose hearts have already been devastated through loss,” Paramount Mayor Peggy Lemons told NBC4.

Lemons said she was across the street from the statue with her granddaughter when she noticed its rifle and helmet were missing — vandalismthat will costs tens of thousands of dollars to repair.

A city statement called the vandalism, “a shameful act of disrespect to those who risked their lives protecting our country and freedoms, as this memorial stands as a symbol of honor and their sacrifice.”

“Let’s stand together to protect the memory of our heroes,” the post said.

Lemons said that if the perpetrator “did this because of money, you could come to us. We have lots of programs and lots of services available to help you. You don’t have to go to these lengths and … make an emotional attack on the families of people who’ve already lost so much. They didn’t need to lose this, too.”

The mayor and law enforcement urged the community to share any information that is known about the vandalism. The LA County Sheriff’s Department’s Lakewood Station can be reached at (562) 623-3500.

In Arcadia, meanwhile, the Memorial Day tributes began on Saturday, as leaders gathered to remember the fallen who fought in America’ wars, but also paused to take note of those who served in the military who also fought the Eaton fire.

Arcadia’s 27th Annual Tribute to Veterans and Military Families, held each year on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, celebrated a theme of “bravery and resiliency.”

The event, at Arcadia County Park, honored first responders from the L.A. County Fire Department and L.A. County Sheriff’s Department who served communities during the Eaton Fire and who also served in military.

Like many events sprinkled through the area, it didn’t include just one ceremony. But it also included a resource fair for veterans and their loved ones, equipment displays, food trucks, live music and family activities.

In Pasadena, a ceremony at City Hall included the reading of 320 names of people from Pasadena who lost their lives in battle. It was led by Vice Mayor Jess Rivas and cadets from the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps Pasadena Division and the Blair High School Army – Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.

In West Covina, residents and leaders gathered at the city’s veteran’s memorial at City Hall. There, they honored not only those who names were already on the memorial, but three more added this year after a resilient research effort. William T. Lang, Jack W. Wilke and Homer H. Cushman joined their peers on the memorial.

The La Cañada Flintridge Memorial Day Parade began at Cornishon Avenue and traveled east along Foothill Boulevard to Gould Avenue. Its theme was “You’re a Grand Old Flag.”

The grand marshal was Ivan Creggar, who served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, including Operation Tidal Wave. The 1943 bombing mission on nine oil refineries in Romania was called “one of the bloodiest and most heroic missions of all time,” in a 1999 research report prepared for the Air War College, with 310 U.S. aircrew members killed or missing and 190 aircrew captured or interned. There were 53 B-24 bombers destroyed and another 55 damaged.

A memorial service preceded the parade at Memorial Park.

Green Hills Memorial Park’s ceremony once again brought a large crowd to Rancho Palos Verdes for its annual Memorial Day Service to honor those who died during active military duty, those impacted by those deaths and those who are serving in U.S. Armed Forces.

This year’s Memorial Day service featured a patriotic concert, alongside the opening ceremony of the Vietnam Memorial Moving Wall.

The Moving Wall is a half-size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C., which has been touring the country since 1984. The replica typically spends about a week at each site it visits, according to the memorial’s website.

The Honoring Our Fallen Memorial Day Reading of Names of the 7,057 Americans who have died in combat and training exercises since the 9/11 attacks as reported by U.S. Central Command began before dawn at Rosie the Riveter Park in Long Beach.

Members of Gold Star families, local active-duty military, law enforcement, first responders and veterans assisted in reading the names of the fallen in order of death as inscribed on the park’s memorial wall.

Memorial Day ceremonies and observances were also planned at:

–The C. Robert Lee Activity Center in Hawaiian Gardens;

–Lancaster Cemetery, Lacy Park in San Marino;

–Whittier City Hall;

–Acton Community Center;

–Highland Park Veterans Memorial Square;

–Glendale City Hall;

–Park Lawn Cemetery in Commerce;

–Cerritos Civic Center;

–Forest Lawn memorial parks in Glendale, Covina Hills, Hollywood Hills and Long Beach;

–Veterans Park in Lomita;

–Los Angeles National Cemetery in Westwood;

–Eternal Valley Memorial Park in Newhall;

–Mines Avenue Veterans Monument in Pico Rivera;

–The Memorial Obelisk outside Inglewood City Hall;

–Del Valle Park in Lakewood;

–Norwalk Cultural Arts Center;

–Rose Hills Memorial Park & Mortuary in Whittier;

–Wilmington Cemetery; and

–American Legion Hollywood Post 43.

What became Memorial Day was first observed on May 30, 1868, as Decoration Day, a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the Civil War dead with flowers.

It was established 25 days earlier by Maj. Gen. John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of veterans who fought for the Union in the Civil War. It is believed that date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the nation.

By the end of the 19th century, Decoration Day ceremonies were being held on May 30 throughout the nation. After World War I, the holiday was changed to honor Americans who died fighting in all wars.

The term Memorial Day was first used in 1882, became more common after World War II and declared the official name by federal law in 1967.

Memorial Day had been observed on May 30, until being moved to the last Monday in May in 1971 under terms of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which became law in 1968.

Staff writers Donna Littlejohn, Kristy Hutchings, Ryan Carter and City News Service contributed to this report. 

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