Day of Remembrance : Nostalgia, Sadness Felt as Nation’s Veterans Are Saluted in Area Observances

Around the county, men and women lowered their heads in silence to offer a prayer, recollect fallen veterans and be thankful for the ones who survived.

“Today is a day of nostalgia and sadness for me because there are so many that didn’t come back,” said William Jeffery, a 70-year-old veteran of World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam War. “I get to thinking too much about those guys. I lost a lot of buddies over there.”

But sharing a sense of pride and remembrance with 400 supporters at Ventura’s Ivy Lawn Cemetery for a two-hour Veterans Day service offered solace to Jeffery, as it did for others.

The patriotic ceremony, which featured more than 700 American flags and color guards from various veterans’ groups, was one of several Veterans Day programs held from Ventura to Thousand Oaks to honor those who wore their nation’s uniform.

Called Armistice Day until 1953, the holiday was intended to honor America’s dead from World War I, which ended at 11 a.m. Nov. 11, 1918. The observance now pays tribute to the nation’s veterans from all wars.

On Thursday, veterans and their supporters were not just focusing on the past, they were looking into the future.

“One of the things we owe these veterans is to maintain a strong military . . . so we know they did not die in vain,” said former congressman and World War II veteran Robert J. Lagomarsino, the keynote speaker at Ivy Lawn. “Let us remain true to our veterans by maintaining our national defense and making sure more people don’t fill up our graveyards.”

All over the county, under crystal clear skies, residents observed Veterans Day with the traditional ceremonies, speeches and music. The Confederate Air Force flew three planes in formation over several cemeteries, and white doves were released at Ivy Lawn.

In Camarillo, the American Legion had a pancake breakfast, followed by a service at Constitution Park. In Moorpark, a flagpole was dedicated at the Veterans Memorial.

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And in Thousand Oaks, more than 100 veterans and their families and friends gathered at the Conejo Valley Veterans Memorial at Conejo Creek Park North, where a celebration was organized by the local chapter of the Military Order of the World Wars.

“Freedom is not free,” retired Army Capt. Jon Williams told the crowd gathered on the lawn near the water, shortly before a moment of silence was observed. “Our freedom has been paid for with human sacrifice and blood.”

His words resonated with Nancy Bennett of Newbury Park. For two years she has brought her young daughters, Macaela and Shelby, to the event to give them an awareness of the price of freedom.

Bennett’s brother is in a special forces unit of the Army and served in the Persian Gulf conflict. Her grandfathers, who served in World War II, and her father, a military chemist during the Vietnam War, are retired from the Army and Air Force.

“My children are small, and I have a real sense that our youth, the majority, have no sense of the sacrifices that have been made for freedom all around the world,” Bennett said.

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The ceremony at Ivy Lawn also addressed teaching young people the lessons of the past.

“The biggest reason for Veterans Day is to pass the torch to our youth,” said Lt. Charles Bennett, the master of ceremonies. He praised the 11 Boy Scout and Cub Scout troops that honored the veterans.

U.S. Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) reminded spectators at Ivy Lawn Cemetery that people determine the outcome of wars. “We can build smarter tanks and quicker jets, but the strongest defense depends on men and women, not machines.”

At Pierce Bros. Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village, attendants buried an estimated 3,000 mementos, from flags and cans of beer to notes and photographs, left over the summer by those who visited a traveling replica of the Vietnam veterans memorial wall. The mementos were to be buried near the eternal flame at the park’s Garden of Valor, the section dedicated to veterans.