Ventura County East Edition : ‘This Is for John’ : Hundreds Attend Memorial Day Ceremonies to Honor Military Men and Women With Speeches, Wreaths and the Playing of Taps

Ten-year-old Shawn Moore shouldered a wooden cross and set out Monday to find a family friend.

While nearly 200 people participated in Memorial Day services at Simi Valley’s Public Cemetery, the precocious fourth-grader walked past grave markers in search of the final resting place of Capt. John Maddry.

“I’ve been looking for a long time. He’s supposed to be here somewhere,” the boy said, carrying a long wooden cross bearing the dead soldier’s name.

Shawn eventually stumbled over the marker, after more than an hour of searching, and planted the marker at the grave site.

He later led family members to the plot, where they completed a ritual started three years ago when the veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars died.

“This is for John,” said Shawn’s uncle, Michael Lowe of Simi Valley, raising a bottle of peppermint schnapps to his lips and then pouring a little on the ground. “We always promised him a drink every year, and we always drink with him.”

In Memorial Day services across Ventura County, hundreds of family members and friends attended ceremonies in Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, Fillmore, Camarillo and Piru to honor military men and women.

In Ventura, more than 250 people attended Memorial Day services at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park. Residents bearing wreaths, flowers and flags adorned grave sites throughout the cemetery, which also flew dozens of coffin flags from veterans.

The hourlong service included several speeches, a wreath ceremony and the playing of taps.

In Westlake Village, Pierce Valley Oaks Memorial Park accepted soiled, faded and torn United States flags for disposal.

And in Simi Valley, at a cemetery once so weed-choked and overgrown that grave markers were barely visible, war veterans paid tribute to their fallen comrades.

“Today we celebrate a very special group of Americans who paid their life in service to their country,” said Richard Hlebasko, commander of the VFW Post in Simi Valley.

“What we have to do is teach our kids what Memorial Day means, what our gallant men and women died for,” Hlebasko said later. “And we have to remember the veterans who are still with us. We honor the dead by helping the living.”

Participating in Monday’s ceremony were Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), state Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley), county Supervisor Vicky Howard and Simi Valley Mayor Gregory Stratton.

Many of the city’s pioneers are buried in the Simi Valley graveyard, an 1,100-plot site dating from the late 1800s.

Hundreds of foot-long wooden crosses, painted white and topped with miniature U.S. flags, were placed on the 7 1/2-acre lawn by local Boy Scout and Cub Scout troops.

Riflemen fired a 21-gun salute, and the observance was concluded by a lone bugler blowing taps.

Pauline Phillips brought her 3-year-old granddaughter, Shawna, to the ceremony. The girl skipped and twirled between grave markers most of the morning.

“She doesn’t quite know what to make of all this,” said Phillips, a member of the American Legion auxiliary.

But Phillips knows what it means. Several friends and family members are buried at the site.

“I take care of the graves,” she said, stopping to snap a photo of a well-decorated marker.

Simi Valley resident Dale Ragel also attended the ceremony, but for a somewhat different reason.

The 72-year-old World War II veteran went to the graveyard to visit the burial plot of his daughter, Victoria, who died not long ago at age 41.

“Memorial Day is not a day for a picnic or for going to the beach,” Ragel said. “It’s a day to honor the dead.”

Times staff writer Peggy Y. Lee contributed to this report.