Beach Tribute Honors Those Killed in Iraq

With flags, flowers, prayers and hymns, thousands of veterans, families and friends turned out on a sun-washed Monday to honor America’s fallen war dead in Memorial Day events throughout the Southland.

From the beach in Santa Monica, where 810 small crosses swept over the sands to honor those killed in Iraq, to more traditional observances in Los Angeles and Orange counties, tributes were paid to those who have fallen in battles past and present.

Hundreds of thousands of people from San Clemente to Ventura also celebrated the weekday off with barbecues, picnics and beach parties in perfect Southern California weather. Temperatures hit the low 90s in the Valleys and the mid-70s at the shore.

An estimated 250,000 to 300,000 flocked to Will Rogers, Santa Monica and Venice beaches, according to Los Angeles County lifeguards, while South Bay beaches were packed with an estimated 750,000 sunbathers.

At the Los Angeles National Cemetery, about 1,000 people gathered to participate in the 115th Memorial Day program that included a flyover by four F-18 fighter jets from the China Lake Naval Weapons Station, music from the 300th Army band and a booming Civil War reenactment cannon salute.

Flags were placed at all of the nearly 85,000 grave sites at the cemetery, whose earliest interment dates to the Indian Wars, which ended in 1898. One of the most recent burials was of the cemetery’s only veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Staff Sgt. Allan Kendall Walker, 28, a U.S. Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton who was killed in Iraq in April when his Humvee convoy was attacked.

Walker’s family dedicated a plaque at the cemetery’s columbarium honoring all veterans and visited their son’s grave site, laying carnations and red roses. Allan’s grandfather, Hugh K. Walker, a World War II veteran who served in the Navy, is also interred at the cemetery.

Ken Walker, Allan’s father, said the family had observed many Memorial Days but none so heartfelt as this one.

“It became a lot more personal and emotionally charged for me, in some respects like an emotional catharsis,” he said.

His son had been in Iraq for only six weeks, after having finished a tour as a drill instructor, a sought-after and honored position. It was ironic, said Walker, because as a youth his son had been a rebel.

“I was worried that he might go down the path that all families are afraid of, but God intervened and sent him off to the Marines. And then God chose to take him.”

If the Memorial Day services bore solemn witness to the memory of the departed, they also served to acknowledge the fellowship of those still living.

Knots of soldiers, sailors and airmen, recognizing a decoration or a combat unit stenciled into a cap or T-shirt, stopped to reminisce or salute one another.

After the ceremonies at the National Cemetery, Art Howard, 71, a 7th Cavalry helicopter pilot in Korea and Vietnam, wanted to shake hands with Morton Wolk, 88, a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division who dropped from the first plane carrying soldiers to the beaches of Normandy.

“There’s a bond between him and me, a bond between all soldiers, sailors and Marines,” noted Howard. “We have to come out and honor and thank people for their sacrifices while they’re still around.”

Elsewhere, a portion of Santa Monica Beach was covered with hundreds of small crosses planted in the sand to honor the fallen in Iraq.

The Los Angeles chapter of Veterans for Peace, which organized the event -- dubbed “Arlington West,” after the famed capital cemetery -- put a list of 810 soldiers on a table with their name, rank, military affiliation and the date of death.

With the list were stacks of writing paper and boxes of rubber bands, and below the table, large containers of flowers. Participants were invited to write personal tributes.

Lee Ernst, a surgical technician from Los Feliz, remembered her friend, Army Spec. Frances M. Vega, 20, who was killed with four others when the mail delivery helicopter in which she was riding was shot down over Iraq on Nov. 2, 2003.

She wrote her friend’s name on a piece of paper, placed a stargazer lily in front of it and secured them to the cross with a rubber band. Then, she stepped back and offered a prayer.

“This is a time of remembrance,” she said, not only for Vega, but also her grandfather, father and uncle, who all served their country in uniform.

Karin Woodward, a Los Angeles artist, who helped read the names of the war dead, was overcome with emotion when she came to names of young soldiers and had to stop to compose herself.

“This is a place for people to grieve,” she said. “It honors. It acknowledges the human cost of the war.”

By late afternoon, most crosses on the beach had flowers and notes in front of them.

At the cross honoring Marine Lance Cpl. Ruben Valdez Jr., 21, of 3rd Battalion, 7th Regiment, 1st Division, 2nd Marine, someone had written simply: “Thank you.” Attached to it was a daisy.

In Orange County, Memorial Day observances were held in cities such as Seal Beach, La Palma, Westminster, Santa Ana, Costa Mesa and Fullerton, where more than 2,500 visitors and military personnel attended the city’s 66th annual celebration.

Fullerton’s observance paid special tribute to the military’s sea-lift command, which has shipped 95% of the war’s supplies to Iraq. The event was sponsored by the American Veterans Memorial Assn., a volunteer group that placed a small cross and flag on more than 3,000 veterans’ graves at Loma Vista Memorial Park.

Guest speaker Navy Capt. Juan L. Chavez, commander of the Military Sealift Command of the Pacific in San Diego, told of the contributions made not only by soldiers and sailors, but merchant mariners. During World War II, 9,487 merchant mariners died, he said.

“Americans born and raised after World War II have come to expect that our military strength and world position are givens,” Chavez said, adding: “Freedom is not free; the victory was not without cost.”

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Times staff writers K. Connie Kang and David Reyes contributed to this report.