Veterans Plan Vigil in Honor of Comrades

Armed Forces veterans in Ventura County are planning a series of memorials and events this week to honor those who served their country and to remember those who died defending it.

Although Veterans Day is not officially observed until Thursday, veterans in Camarillo plan a 24-hour vigil beginning at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Constitution Park.

“We feel that veterans should be recognized for making us free,” said Eileen Nichols, a Camarillo resident and U.S. Army veteran. “The country called, we answered and the city remembers.” Earlier this year, Nichols and her husband, Roy, helped organize the Camarillo Veterans Memorial Committee, a veterans group determined to build a monument at the park dedicated to those who served or died for their country.

A flag once flown over the U.S. Capitol will be raised at 11 a.m. Thursday on a new flagpole donated by the committee.

State and federal employees will take a day off Thursday, but most schools will observe the holiday Friday. Ventura County employees will not get a day off, but the court system will be closed.

Veteran Ed Leighton spent part of Monday placing hundreds of flags along the roadways at Ivy Lawn Cemetery in Ventura.

“Each one of those flags represents a dead veteran,” the World War II veteran said. “They are casket flags.” The “Avenue of the Flags” is organized by both the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion. A memorial service is scheduled at 11 a.m. Thursday in front of the cemetery.

“It’s nice for everybody to observe it in some fashion,” said John Tinsley, commander of the American Legion Post No. 339 of Ventura. “Everybody owes the veterans a little courtesy.”

The Vietnam Veterans of Ventura County is co-sponsoring a concert with the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 1679 of Ventura. The folk group In Country, a band made up entirely of Vietnam veterans, will perform Wednesday night at the Oxnard Community Center.

The holiday “is a time to remember those who gave their life for what they believe in,” said Lloyd Vancil, secretary of the Vietnam veterans coalition.

On Sunday, the Vineyard Christian Fellowship will host a free barbecue for veterans and their families after the 11 a.m. service. The event will be at the center, 2700 Buckaroo Ave. in Oxnard.