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Memorial Day service at Santa Barbara Cemetery salutes the military and first responders; ceremonies held throughout county DAVE MASON/NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS“Taps” is played by Howard Hudson and Bob Burtness during the Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation’s Memorial Day Service Monday at the Santa Barbara Cemetery.
A crowd of at least a thousand people listened as Howard Hudson and Bob Burtness played “Taps” on their bugles to honor those who have given their lives for America.
That was the scene Monday at the Santa Barbara Cemetery in Montecito, where the same audience looked toward the flag and later up at the sky for a flyover by four Texan T-16 planes from the Van Nuys-based Condor Squadron. Their passes included the missing man formation.
Before that, the Santa Barbara Choral Society sang “Shenandoah” and “America the Beautiful” before an audience of veterans from various wars and their families, friends and supporters.
Four T-16 Texans fly over the Santa Barbara Cemetery to honor those who have given their lives for America.That is how Memorial Day was observed during the Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation service, one of several throughout Santa Barbara County.
Elsewhere, Vandenberg Space Force officials spoke at a program at the Veterans Memorial Hall in Solvang, and veterans were honored during programs at cemeteries in Goleta, Carpinteria and Santa Maria.
The large Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation ceremony in Montecito stood out this year for being the first time that first responders were honored as well as the military. That point was emphasized as former Navy Lt. Bill Blankenship, the foundation’s founder, introduced those seated near the podium.
First responders listen to David Lopez sing the national anthem.Among them were Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown, Interim Santa Barbara Police Chief Bernard Melekian (a Coast Guard veteran), Santa Barbara City Fire Chief Chris Mailes, Santa Barbara County Fire Chief Mark Hartwig and Montecito Fire Chief Kevin Taylor.
At one point, the law enforcement and fire departments’ leaders stood, turned and applauded the long row of firefighters, deputies, police officers and California Highway Patrol troopers seated behind the podium.
“In my humble opinion, it is these people behind me and all the vets here that make this nation so great,” Lt. Blankenship told the audience.
Former Navy Lt. John Blankenship, left, who founded the Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation, listens as retired Brigadier Gen. Fred Lopez gives an address at Monday’s ceremony.“I feel like we’re all part of a team, and I feel there’s a strong bond between these individuals and us military veterans,” he said.
Lt. Blankenship went on to praise first responders for dedicating their careers to 24/7 service to the community and called them “wonderful people.”
Earlier in the ceremony, retired Marine Brigadier Gen. Fred Lopez raised the question at the podium of whether Memorial Day is observed or celebrated. He went on to say during his address that while deaths are mourned, Memorial Day celebrates what troops gave their lives for: American principles.
Many uniforms grace the audience at the service.“The idea of America is arguably the most significant in human history,” Gen. Lopez said. “It is an idea spawned by a small group of people who took great risks three centuries ago to begin a new life individually and collectively.
“For all our flaws, past and present, the United States still remains the greatest and most prosperous, most egalitarian civic experiment ever undertaken,” Gen. Lopez said, prompting applause.
“The notion of great people willing to fight and die for the idea of America has been part of our national DNA for over 247 years,” Gen. Lopez said.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown and Donald Seth, a 94-year-old Merchant Marine veteran, smile during one of the ceremony’s lighter moments.He noted that these Americans “did their best to preserve for us and bring to others the blessings of liberty.”
Also at the podium was U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal, a Marine veteran who was more casually dressed than usual in a blue polo shirt.
“I usually wear a tie to these events,” Rep. Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, said. “But today I’m wearing a shirt I got from the (Ukrainian) Marine Corps detachment while I was in Kiev, Ukraine, in December.
As he delivers his address, U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, wears a polo shirt given him by the Ukrainian Marine Corps detachment in Kiev.“Let’s hear it for the Ukrainian people following in the footsteps of the United States, standing up against tyranny for their freedom and democracy,” Rep. Carbajal said.
The audience applauded the congressman’s words praising the Ukrainians for their resistance to the Russian invasion of their country, which began Feb. 24.
Rep. Carbajal also noted that this year’s Memorial Day was the first one since the end of the war in Afghanistan, the longest war in U.S. history and one that cost the lives of more than 2,400 Americans.
Jo Anne Wasserman directs the Santa Barbara Choral Society as it sings “America the Beautiful.”The congressman added that it was the third Memorial Day since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said that as a member of the House Armed Services committee, he is working with his colleagues on more than a dozen bills to help veterans and make sure they and their families have the resources and support they need.
And Rep. Carbajal praised President Abraham Lincoln and noted that the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated on May 31, 1922, to honor one of the nation’s greatest presidents, one who preserved the union despite the Civil War.
Referring to the political divisions in America today, the congressman said, “We need to remember that more unites us than divides us.”
A member of the Gold Coast Drum and Pipe Band performs.Monday’s ceremony also featured the Gold Coast Drum and Pipe Band performing “Amazing Grace” on its bagpipes and drums. And the audience stood as David Gonzales sang the National Anthem.
There was also a spirited moment as veterans in the crowd stood while the Santa Barbara Choral Society sang songs representing their branch of the service. Those standing included first responders who are veterans.
email: dmason@newspress.com
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