Veterans Hear of Honor, Patriotism

Their flags and uniforms drooped under the weight of pelting rain.

But even two hours of steady showers could not dampen the patriotic spirit of more than 300 veterans and their loved ones gathered Monday at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park near Ventura.

“The rain is not such a big deal,” said Maria Vega, an Oxnard resident who sat cuddling her 2-year-old son. Without an umbrella, both were drenched as they watched the Veterans Day ceremony. “It’s more important that we are just here. We just need to be here.”

Vega’s sentiment was echoed several times Monday, as people used the holiday to renew their patriotic faith in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Most held tight to miniature flags while joining in on rousing renditions of “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “God Bless the USA.”

That message was hammered home, too, in a spirited speech by H. Delano Roosevelt, grandson of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He spoke of his 8- and 9-year-old sons, who were in the audience, and of reminding them, in the days before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, that they lived in a safe and secure world.

“Then, once again, we were attacked on our ground,” Roosevelt said. “Now imagine having just explained, ‘Mom and Dad are here to make sure you’re safe at our home and in our country. . . .’ Take the time to spend with your children.”

Roosevelt noted his own father, a six-term congressman who died at 84, and said he was speaking Monday in his honor. He then urged children in the audience to talk to their grandparents. They had lessons to teach, he reminded them.

“Honor those who came before us,” said Roosevelt, a vice president for a utilities company in Long Beach. “It’s not hokey--just go up and say, ‘Grandpa, I want to talk to you.’ Someday, you’ll be glad you did.”

Other highlights included a rendition of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address delivered by Abraham Lincoln impersonator Don Ancell, an Oxnard resident and member of the Assn. of Lincoln Presenters.

Retired Army Lt. Col. Ken Todd gripped the podium and vigorously read the words to Johnny Cash’s “Ragged Old Flag.” As Todd reached the last lines, three planes roared overhead and Vietnam veteran Gene Camarillo stood, pushing two thumbs-up into the air.

Surveying the rain-soaked crowd huddling under umbrellas, Lt. Charles Bennett, who served as master of ceremonies, thanked the audience for turning out.

“Some asked after Sept. 11, ‘What can we do? How can we help?’ ” Bennett said. “I will tell you, just being here is a great help.”

The ceremony ended with a 21-gun salute and the release of white doves. Afterward, dozens of Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts, who sat through the ceremonies without an umbrella, made their way to shelter.

Vega, the mother of an Oxnard Scout who took part in the morning service, said she offered to take her son and any of his friends home early.

“We asked, ‘Who wanted to come?’ and no one did,” Vega said. “Everyone chose to stay.”