This morning’s Memorial Day ceremony, which was preceded by a procession through the Village led by the Big Bear Valley Marine Corps Detachment 1038 and Major Nelson Reynolds on bagpipes, offered a solemn and beautiful tribute to our military personnel under sunny skies and along the shore of Big Bear Lake at Veterans Park. In addition to a musical rendering of the 1915 poem “Flanders Field” performed by the Big Bear Dandies, patriotic music sung by Beth Gardner and Kim Boda, and the placement of the wreath upon the symbolic casket by the American Legion Post 584 Women’s Auxiliary, today’s Memorial Day tribute included keynote speaker Colonel Wes Weston, Assistant Chief of Staff at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms. During his address, Colonel Weston noted that America’s military personnel share “a bond of love and loyalty to country” and, of those who lost their lives in the name of freedom, in his words, “these greatest of Americans and truest of patriots made the greatest sacrifice possible.” Prior to the public’s opportunity to place red carnations on the casket in memory of loved ones who have served, Reverend Tom Goodman of the American Legion Post 584 asked, “Where do we get men and women like these? We get them in cities like this… We grow them in the home. We honor each and every one who has elected to serve; each is a hero.” And, in prayer, he added, “We ask that we will never forget the sacrifices they’ve made, and that You bless their families.”
