Memorial Day celebrations fill LA County with tributes to fallen service men and women

With communities crafting ceremonies large and small, Memorial Day in Los Angeles County featured an old-school neighborhood parade through the streets of Canoga Park, the reading aloud of hundreds of service men and women who died serving the nation at scattered ceremonies and hundreds of U.S. Navy sailors marching down L.A.’s new but already iconic Sixth Street Viaduct.

The San Fernando Valley’s traditional Memorial Day parade honored Canoga Park High School graduates who gave their lives in military service since World War II. The opening ceremony included a wreath laying at the Wall of Honor and presentations by local, state and federal elected officials.

The parade began at the intersection of Sherman Way and Owensmouth Avenue and proceeded east to Cozycroft Avenue, with more than 75 entries, including veterans’ organizations, equestrian teams, military units and high school bands, according to organizers, who reported that 30,000 to 35,000 people lined the parade route.

“I am deeply honored to have been selected to participate in the Annual Canoga Park Memorial Day Parade,” said retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Peter Gravett, the parade’s grand marshal, “and I commend the organizers and community for continuing this tradition. What better way to honor our brave military who fell in war to secure our freedoms, beginning with the Civil War to recent conflicts.”

Meanwhile, in Downtown L.A., more than 500 U.S. Navy sailors in gleaming white uniforms marched across the Sixth Street Viaduct.

The walk to pay tribute to fallen U.S. military personnel started at noon on the Boyle Heights side of the viaduct, with sailors forming 10 rows abreast and 50 deep, according to Branimir Kvartuc, the media representative for LA Fleet Week. Members of the public are welcome to follow.

The walk was held in conjunction with LA Fleet Week, the annual, multi-day celebration of the nation’s sea services. The annual celebration of all things nautical packed the San Pedro area with visitors.

The Memorial Day Observance at Green Hills Memorial Park in Rancho Palos Verdes included skydivers, a procession of colors, a mounted posse, civilian and military flyovers and a performance by Navy Band Southwest.

The keynote speaker was retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Mark A. Graham, who served in several key command and staff positions in the United States, Germany and South Korea.

In his 2012 retirement ceremony at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, which also honored his wife Carol, Graham noted their sons Jeff and Kevin “died fighting different battles.”

Kevin Graham died by suicide in 2003 while a senior ROTC cadet studying to become an Army doctor. Nine months later, 2nd Lt. Jeff Graham was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Since then, the Grahams have dedicated themselves to helping people in the military and the civilian world learn about and prevent suicide.

Residents, veterans and city dignitaries gathered at the Veteran’s Memorial in Redondo Beach’s Veteran’s Park. This year, the ceremony — put on annually by the city, the Veterans Memorial Task Force and Redondo Beach Elks Lodge #1378 — included a flag presentation to family members of late Redondo Beach Mayor Bill Brand, who died in February.

Every Memorial Day and Labor Day, the flag that flies at Veteran’s Park is replaced with a new one, said Tom Lasser, of the Veteran’s Memorial Task Force. The old flag is usually presented to a local veteran, he said.

But this year, because of the late mayor’s support for the military, veterans and the Veteran’s Park Memorial itself, the task force decided to present the flag to Brand’s family. Sister Sallie Citron accepted the flag on behalf of the family.

“How special is it that we’re presenting the flag right by his final resting place?” Lasser said in a phone interview before Monday’s ceremony. Brand’s ashes were lowered into the ocean in a paddleout ceremony right below Veteran’s Park earlier this month.

For more than 20 years, the city of Torrance has honored those residents who have given their lives in military service for their country with the Veterans Memorial Wall. The 151 names enshrined in the monument are located at the corner of Torrance Boulevard and Maple Avenue, adjacent to Torrance City Hall.

Five new names of men who lost their lives during World War II that were added to the wall last year were highlighted at the Torrance Historical Society’s Names on the Wall Remembrance on Monday.

About half of the names on the monument are World War II veterans, Torrance Historical Society volunteer Dennis Piotrowski said, along with one from World War I. The other half are honored for their service in Korea, Vietnam and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Piotrowski, along with Torrance Historical Society board member Kurt Weideman and other volunteers, continued researching who they can add to the “Names on the Wall Project,” an effort to share the stories of Torrance residents who have died during their military service.

The project, for which the memorial wall was built in 2003, was initiated by Jerry Ronan, a past Torrance Historical Society Board Member, Torrance teacher and late World War II veteran who died in 2021, along with many other volunteers. Piotrowski and Weidman found Monday’s new honorees in the past two years.

As for the five latest veterans on the list, Piotrowski, who is a librarian in the Palos Verdes Library District, said he and Weideman uncovered the stories of the handful of Torrance men killed in action from a 1946 article in the Torrance Herald. The Herald was published from 1914 to 1969, according to the city’s website.

Here are the Torrance World War II Veterans who were officially recognized on the memorial wall Monday:

–Thomas Beecham, a resident of Torrance’s Walteria neighborhood, who was on board the submarine USS Argonaut when it was attacked and sunk, all hands lost, on January 10, 1943.

–James D. Sanders, also from Walteria, enlisted and died at 17 years old when the escort aircraft carrier USS Liscome Bay was torpedoed and sunk in November 1943.

–Russell Browning, a Merchant Mariner who was aboard the SS Azalea City when it was torpedoed and sunk by a German U Boat in February 1942.

–Kristi Palica, a local baseball player and Army infantryman who was killed on Luzon Island in the Philippines by an artillery blast injury in May 1945.

–John Wolverton, a Naval aviator whose plane went missing on May 15, 1943 while on a routine search mission from Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.

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 at 5:30 a.m. at Rosie the Riveter Park in Long Beach with a bagpiper tribute.

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

The reading was expected to be completed at approximately 1 p.m., according to Laura Herzog, the founder and CEO of Honoring Our Fallen, which organizes the event. The nonprofit organization provides support for families of service personnel killed in the line of duty during the transfer of remains.

In addition, new nameplates were unveiled to honor those who gave their lives in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam War and Gulf War, along with law enforcement officers and firefighters who died in the line of duty, Herzog said.

More names were read aloud — 320 of them — in Pasadena. The names belonged tp service members from from the City of Roses who lost their lives in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and other conflicts were honored at Memorial Park.

Reading the names were City Councilmember Jess Rivas, along with members of the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps, Pasadena Division.

In a stirring individual tribute, Irene Ramirez was presented with a folded American flag in honor of her son, Lance Cpl. Rogelio A. Ramirez, who was killed in Iraq in 2007

All eyes turned skyward when the Condor Squadron performed a “missing man” flyover during the ceremony.

In Rosemead, Archbishop José H. Gomez presided over a special outdoor Memorial Day Mass at Resurrection Cemetery and Mortuary.

And in Hollywood, Joseph Pietroforte, a U.S. Army sergeant during World War II who fought in the Battle of the Bulge and was a member of the 5th Infantry Division commanded by Gen. George S. Patton, was among the speakers at the Memorial Day Remembrance at the American Legion’s Hollywood Post 43.

In his Memorial Day proclamation, President Joe Biden proclaimed Monday as a day of prayer for permanent peace, designating 11 a.m. in each time zone as a time during which people may unite in prayer, citing a 1950 joint resolution by Congress.

“Together, we vow to honor their memories by carrying on their work to forge a more perfect Union,” Biden said.

Staff writers Michael Hixon, Christopher Haire, Lisa Jacobs and Holly Abrams, as well as City News Service, contributed to this report.

Read original article here

Denial of responsibility! Chronicles Live is an automatic aggregator of the all world’s media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials, please contact us by email – chronicleslive.com. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.

Memorial Day celebrations fill LA County with tributes to fallen service men and women – Daily News

Leave a Comment Cancel reply