Remembering the fallen at Two Strike Park in La Crescenta on Memorial Day
Gathered in front of the 45 engraved names of local veterans who perished in combat, La Crescenta residents honored and remembered fallen soldiers from their community during a Memorial Day ceremony on Monday.
Flowers were laid at Two Strike Park by the memorial, which has the names of the nearly four dozen veterans who fought and died in combat ranging from World War II to the current War on Terror. Their names were also read aloud as part of the local tradition.
However, keynote speaker Bill Flanders, a Marine Corps pilot and lead pastor of the First Baptist Church of La Crescenta, said there’s more to the chiseled names whether on the local memorial wall or the Vietnam War Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.
“I want you to understand that the names that you see on the wall are not just statistics … They’re real people who have friends like me,” Flanders said. “People who left behind children and wives.”
He shared the story his friend Marine Capt. Bill Nystul, who was among the last Marines killed during the Vietnam War the day before U.S. forces pulled out in 1975.
Nystul was in a helicopter on a search-and-rescue mission when the aircraft crashed into the South China Sea. His body was never recovered.
U.S. Army veteran Robert Wollenweber read the poem “In Flanders Field” by World War I veteran Lt. Col. John McCrae. Wollenweber spoke to the significant of the red poppy flower, which is referenced in the poem.
“[McCrae] was inspired after presiding over the funeral of friends and fellow soldiers,” Wollenweber said. “[The poem] references the red poppies that grew over the graves of fallen soldiers, resulting in the poppy becoming one of the most recognized symbols for soldiers who have died.”
A folded flag was given to the family of Michael Kurtz, a Vietnam veteran who died in 1989.
Many of the veterans who attended Monday’s ceremony have been going to it for years, including local resident Andy Gero, an Army veteran from the Korean War. He said, however, it’s still hard for him to hear the names called out of his fallen brethren.
“Being a veteran myself, I have to say that it’s real hard to talk about it because of the sacrifice these guys made and what they went through to keep us free,” he said. “I think we’re giving them the proper recognition for their service to our country.”
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Twitter: @ArinMikailian
