Local dignitaries, veterans and community members gathered on the sunny Monday morning to memorialize those who have fallen in service of their country. This year’s Memorial Day ceremony at Eternal Valley Memorial Park & Mortuary included a special salute to those who have served in the Navy.
“We’re gathered here this morning to commemorate, honor and remember those who answered the call. Those who served, and those who died in the service of our country,” said master of ceremonies Ed Masterson. “What President Abraham Lincoln referred to as the last full measure of devotion. Thank you all so much for being here today.”
Masterson introduced Church of the Canyons Pastor Kris Ullman to say a prayer over the veterans and community members at the event.
“For you alone are the Lord over the nations, and over all the earth. We acknowledge, and we lament that we live in a world that is deeply discarded by the presence and the power of sin. We thank you, Lord, for your common grace, peace, and order, and liberty that we enjoy in our wonderful nation,” Ullman said. “We remember, on this Memorial Day, in honor of the military personnel, while serving in the United States armed forces. We give thanks for the selfless dedication, the phone service members. We recognize now they’re sacrifice.”
During the ceremony, Ronald Reagan Marine Corps League Vietnam Veterans of America No. 355 posted the colors for the crowd – prompting a moment of appreciation and silence.
Jerry Rhodes, a Vietnam veteran with the U.S. Army, spoke to the crowd about the significance and symbolism of the Missing Man’s Table.
The Missing Man’s Table represents the frailty of one prisoner, alone against their oppressors.
“These are all symbols and rituals that help us to remember, that cause us to remember the cost of freedom,” Rhodes said.
Rhodes acknowledged in his speech the upcoming 250th birthday of the United States, reminding the crowd about the cries for liberty and justice that came from the early settlers to the new world.
“Their self-determination, persistence, and faith. They found economic opportunity. Land ownership, and the freedom not available to them in Great Britain. But that freedom and ownership was increasingly threatened, as England sought to extract their productivity to support the excesses of the British throne,” Rhodes said. “They endured increasing taxation, trade restrictions, and control by the British government. But they had tasted freedom.”
Mike Garcia, former U.S. congressman and keynote speaker, recalled his time serving the country as a lieutenant commander and a U.S. Navy aviator in Iraq.
Before Garcia began his remarks, he wanted to pay tribute to Don Kuehl, who died in January and was a World War II Army veteran.
“And everyone who has served in the armed forces did it out of a love of country, not only wearing a uniform on their backs, but also wearing a unified belief and devotion to the cause … that our nation’s freedoms aren’t free unless made and kept so by patriots willing to fight, and if needed, give their lives for those freedoms,” Garcia said.
He added that the people who lost their lives did not want it to happen but were willing to die for the cause and their country, families and the generations behind them – empathizing with why they served and fought for the country.
Rep. George Whitesides, D-Agua Dulce, said the nation pauses during Memorial Day.
“We step away from the regimes of our daily lives; we gather in parks and cemeteries. And we turn our thoughts to a sacred death. We come together to honor the men and women who gave what Abraham Lincoln called the last full measure of devotion,” Whitesides said.
Whitesides asked attendees that, when they leave the ceremony on Monday, they remember to enjoy the blessings of liberty, to live the lives for which veterans sacrificed, protect the democracy they died to defend and to pray for the people who are currently deployed.
To close out the morning, local artist Terrell Edwards sang “God Bless America” to the crowd with the backing of a concert band.
