Veterans’ names etched in stone
Nearly a century after James McCloud left Glendale’s Tropico neighborhood for Europe, the city on Monday will honor the World War I veteran by etching his name into marble at the Veterans Memorial outside City Hall.
McCloud is one of 50 veterans to be honored Monday, the largest class to be memorialized in a single year since the five marble walls of names were unveiled in 1997. He is the only veteran of the War to End All Wars whose name will be added this year.
Glendale’s Memorial Day observance will take place at 9:30 a.m. Monday at Broadway and Isabel Street. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) and Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich will be among those reading the names aloud and offering remarks.
Burbank’s ceremony takes place at 11 a.m. at the McCambridge Park War Memorial.
Burbank’s event includes familiar features. The civilian Condor Squadron will perform a flyover of the site, the Burbank Community Band will play patriotic music, and Boy Scouts will lay a rose at the foot of the memorial for each fallen soldier or Marine as the names of veterans are read from the plaque in the park.
The plaque honors those who were lost in the first and second World Wars, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and those who have died in the Middle East conflicts after 9/11.
Two new elements include the recognition of those who recently returned and a spoken tribute to the American flag offered by longtime voice actor and Burbank resident Jimmy Weldon. His most famous role may have been his work as Yakky Doodle on the old Yogi Bear cartoons, but he is an experienced motivational speaker who has offered a speech about Old Glory many times before civic and veterans groups.
The 50 new names to be added Monday to the marble walls of the memorial in Glendale on Monday come from research done by Burbank resident Linda Mustion and former Glendale firefighter Don Biggs, both members of the Glendale Chamber of Commerce Patriotism Committee.
Mustion, an amateur genealogist, spent hours at the Southern California Genealogy Society library in Burbank, sifting through military records, old News-Press clippings and other documents. She also used Internet resources and made trips to Forest Lawn Memorial Park to confirm the names and Glendale ties of veterans who had not yet been recognized.
Biggs said confirming solid Glendale ties, one of the criteria for adding a name to the monument, can be difficult.
“Military records list where they went in, Los Angeles or North Hollywood or somewhere else where there was a recruiting office at that time,” Biggs said. “But when they passed away or were killed, the News-Press would report that. It’s just a matter of making the connections.”
Last year, the city honored Marine Lance Cpl. Pedro Barboza Flores, who was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in 2009.
“We wanted it special for him last year,” Biggs said. “This year, it is special for this entire group. It is a small thing we can do for them and their families, something to remind people of the significance of their sacrifice.”
MEMORIAL DAY EVENTS
Burbank
Ceremony at 11 a.m. on Monday at McCambridge Park, 1515 N. Glenoaks Blvd.
Glendale
Grand View Memorial Park, 1341 Glenwood Rd., offers public visitation from noon to 4 p.m.
Sunday and Monday.
Ceremony at 7:45 a.m. Monday at Ocean View Boulevard and Honolulu Avenue in Montrose.
Ceremony at 9:30 a.m. Monday at Veterans Memorial at City Hall, 613 E. Broadway.
Celebration from noon to 2:30 p.m. on Monday with food, children’s activities at First Congregational Church of Glendale, 2001 Cañada Blvd.
Celebration at 1 p.m. Monday, including reading of Gettysburg Address, musket and cannon salute at Forest Lawn, 1712 S. Glendale Ave.
La Cañada Flintridge
Service at at 9 a.m. Monday at La Cañada Memorial Park, Foothill Blvd. and La Canada Blvd.
La Crescenta
Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion service at 8 a.m. Monday at Two Strike War Memorial Park, 5107 Rosemont Ave.