COUNTYWIDE : Memorial Day Events to Honor Veterans

Veterans will be out in force Monday as Memorial Day ceremonies are held across the county.

In Ventura, Rep. Elton Gallegly will be the main speaker at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park on Valentine Road, which is already decorated with 700 flags in honor of fallen soldiers. The 11 a.m. ceremony will be followed by a free buffet lunch hosted by the American Legion at 83 S. Palm St.

The Memorial Day ceremony at 11 a.m. at Conejo Mountain Memorial Park, 2052 Howard Road, in Camarillo will feature the Southern California Wing of the Confederate Air Force and Erik Shilling, veteran of the “Flying Tigers.”

Most Thousand Oaks veterans groups will observe Memorial Day just across the county line in Westlake Village, where an 11 a.m. ceremony will feature human re-enactments of war memorials from American history. “There’s no speechmaking,” said event producer Hal Geer.

At Plaza Park in downtown Oxnard, the American Legion plans a Memorial Day observance at noon. At Santa Clara Cemetery in Oxnard, the Port Hueneme Veterans of Foreign Wars plans to place flags at grave sites at 9 a.m.

At Channel Islands Harbor, the Fleet Reserve Assn. will honor lost sailors by placing a wreath in the water at 11 a.m. Monday near the Coast Guard Station on Victoria Avenue.

In Simi Valley, veterans will gather at 10 a.m. Monday at the Simi Valley City Cemetery, 1461 Thompson Lane. Mayor Greg Stratton and state Sen. Cathie Wright are expected to attend the ceremony.

Moorpark will observe Memorial Day at 10 a.m. at the Moorpark Veterans Memorial at Moorpark and Los Angeles avenues. The keynote speaker will be former Air Force pilot and current Moorpark school board member Gary Cabriales.

Memorial Day services will also take place at 9:30 a.m. at Piru Cemetery in Piru and at 11 a.m. at Bardsdale Cemetery in Fillmore. Former Rep. Robert Lagomarsino will speak at both events.

On Sunday, the U.S. Naval Sea Cadets will open the All-Western Memorial Day Swim Meet with a flag ceremony at the Rancho Simi Pool in Simi Valley.

All the events are free and open to the public.

The holiday will delay residential trash pickup by a day for the entire week in most Ventura County communities. It has also prompted the California Highway Patrol to declare a “Maximum Enforcement Period.”

“Basically, everyone and anyone that’s available is working,” promised CHP Officer Dave Cockrill.