A Homage to Heroes : Tiny Anaheim Church Fills Pearson Park Theater for a Patriotic Tribute

In a 2-hour toast to patriotism and heroes, a tiny Anaheim church on Sunday pulled together a tender tribute to America’s fallen soldiers at an afternoon ceremony that drew four major generals, an admiral and 10 Medal of Honor winners.

Despite the allure of blue skies and big games for the Los Angeles Lakers and California Angels, about 700 veterans, their relatives and members of the five military branches filled Anaheim’s Pearson Park Theater for the event, organized by the 67-member Lighthouse Baptist Church.

“I’ve been involved with congregations of 3,000 and more,” beamed Lighthouse Pastor Russell Rigsbee, a 53-year-old North Carolina native whose flock organized the tribute. “None of them have done anything like this.”

More Established Ceremonies Today

The ceremony was scheduled Sunday so that service men and women could attend more established military memorials today. It was the brainchild of Rigsbee, a veteran who served 4 years with the Coast Guard and 17 with the Air Force and fought in the Korean and Vietnam wars.

But it was hard work by his congregation and the military brass that was instrumental in pulling off the tribute and bringing out the troops, he said.

In beachwear and Sunday best, visors and a few fedoras, the crowd sat in the park amphitheater listening to military songs, compliments of the 35-piece 3rd Marine Air Wing band of El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

In straw hat and suit, Dr. Collier McDermon--master of ceremonies and a member of the First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, whose patriotism was tapped to help contact the Medal of Honor winners--introduced the color guards of each military branch: the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Air Force and the Coast Guard.

In sets of 20, men and women marched in their starched uniforms down the aisles of the theater to enthusiastic applause.

“I think I’m gonna go re-enlist, if they’ll take a retread,” quipped McDermon, an older man.

As the service men and women were seated, McDermon thanked veterans and those on active duty alike for attending the tribute, which was organized, he said, to demonstrate “how much we appreciate them, how much we love them and how much we wish them the best.”

“You,” he added, “are our heroes.”

After the pledge of allegiance and a robust version of the National Anthem, McDermon led the audience in a thank-you to Vietnam veterans, whom “some of us didn’t welcome home.”

The crowd collectively murmured, “Welcome home.”

He noted that the ceremony honored the many veterans who have committed suicide or suffer post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of their combat experiences. Not only the living and war dead but hundreds of soldiers who speakers said remain prisoners of war or missing in action were also paid tribute Sunday.

Center stage, of course, were 10 recipients of the Medal of Honor, established in 1863 to honor “heroism and bravery far above the call of duty,” McDermon said. “Of 270 million United States citizens, there are only 224 living Congressional Medal of Honor recipients.”

Two of the 10 medalists honored Sunday live in Orange County; one came all the way from Georgia.

In story after story, McDermon read the citations that various U.S. presidents bestowed upon the medalists who attended. One of them led his troops as he was carried, wounded, in a stretcher up and down the battlefront.

Conscientious Objector Was Okinawa Hero

And there was Dermott Doss, a conscientious objector who refused to bear arms and was drafted as an Army medic during World War II. He saved the lives of 100 American men and became known as the “Angel of Okinawa.”

The tales of heroism drew standing ovations.

The sister of an 11th medalist--Signalman 1st Class Douglas A. Munro of the Coast Guard, who was killed instantly by enemy fire after saving a battalion of Marines trapped by Japanese forces in 1942--flew in from Oregon to attend.

Military brass attending the ceremony included Maj. Gen. James Delk, Army National Guard, Los Alamitos; Maj. Gen. Ted Paulson, Army Reserves, Los Alamitos; Maj. Gen. D.E.P. Miller, El Toro Marine Corps Air Station; Maj. Gen. Stanley Musser, Norton Air Force Base, and Adm. William Kime, 11th Coast Guard District commander in Long Beach.

Renting the city theater, paying a cleanup crew and feeding the military personnel who attended cost his church about $2,000, Rigsbee said, but that seemed minimal “when you consider what we were trying to do.”

“We wanted to have live heroes present and give the community the opportunity to come and display their gratitude. We considered $2,000 a small cost to do that. These are great guys,” Rigsbee said.

“Most people have never shook the hand of a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient. And today they got to shake the hands of 10 of them.”