200 Honor War Dead at El Toro Park

LAKE FOREST — Sgt. Knearl McCusker’s family wanted Memorial Day to be a special occasion, not just a glib reason to enjoy a backyard barbecue, they said.

“My dad was a World War II vet and he’s buried here,” said Marianne Stellar of Capistrano Beach. “We brought our kids, my dad’s grandchildren, to the cemetery for the first time because we wanted them to know that Memorial Day is significant.”

Stellar was among more than 200 who attended a Memorial Day ceremony that included excerpts from the Gettysburg Address, music and a musket salute to honor America’s war dead at El Toro Memorial Park.

It marked the eighth observance of Memorial Day at the park, a 25-acre facility where an estimated 600 military veterans are buried among civilians, said Judy Deeter, who helped organize Monday’s tribute.

“When I used to come here years ago,” Deeter said, “nothing was being done here for those veterans.”

Little by little, Deeter said, she enlisted the help of local groups, including Veterans of Foreign Wars and Daughters of the American Revolution.

“I’m from Ohio,” Deeter said, “and I remember that as a little girl I would get an old coffee can, dig up some flowers and go and put them on the grave of my grandfather on Memorial Day.”

For George Reseter, 72, of Mission Viejo, who served in WWII as a corporal, the ceremony was bittersweet.

“It was a beautiful event,” Reseter said. “But sometimes, it’s discouraging when there’s such a beautiful ceremony and you don’t get a large crowd. Too many people think [Memorial Day] is just a long weekend.”

Reseter said that he was in one of Gen. George Patton’s “mystery divisions,” the 12th Armored Division, whose role in the European theater was to secretly spearhead the Allies’ march to the Rhine River.

“Patton disliked letting the Germans know which division was spearheading our efforts and that’s why we were called the mystery division,” Reseter said proudly.

Out of 10,000 soldiers in Reseter’s division, 700 died and 2,300 were wounded, he said.

A favorite with the audience Monday was a color guard from the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. They wore authentic uniforms with three-cornered hats and carried long muskets representative of the Continental Marines, said James L. Emerson, of the group’s South Coast chapter.

After firing their muskets with a deafening blast, members were surrounded by children peppering them with questions, including whether “our bullets were real,” said Emerson, who was in the 3rd Marine Raiders in the South Pacific in WWII.

A portrayal of Abraham Lincoln by Laguna Hills math teacher John Kendall got loud applause. Dressed in a black stovepipe hat and other Civil War era garb, Kendall offered stories about America’s history.

Milt and Evelyn Jacobson of Mission Viejo walked up and shook Kendall’s hand after his talk.

“I really enjoyed it,” Milt Jacobson said. “It was a beautiful talk and Lincoln was the greatest American.”

For the family of Sgt. McCusker, the experience was educational as well as moving.

Harriet McCusker said her late husband was a tail gunner in a B-25 that flew out of Guam. He later died in civilian life. They met during the war; he was in the service and she was visiting Los Angeles as part of the Ice Follies.

But that was yesteryear, Harriet McCusker said.

“Today, my granddaughter, Chanel, had a great time,” she said. “Usually she’s afraid of strange things and people. But she was so fascinated with the ceremony, she stood on the chair and listened so intently. She wanted to know everything.”