In a parking lot outside the San Juan Bautista cemetery, a
mother kneeled to her young son Monday and proudly pointed at a
group of uniformed veterans by the Veterans of Foreign Wars
post.
In a parking lot outside the San Juan Bautista cemetery, a mother kneeled to her young son Monday and proudly pointed at a group of uniformed veterans by the Veterans of Foreign Wars post. Spectators snapped photographs of their aging, local heroes. One uniformed veteran stood straight and posed, saluting, as a family member took a picture.
Outside the cemetery before the 9 a.m. Memorial Day ceremony, as generations of veterans and spectators mingled, a festive mood suddenly turned solemn during one of San Benito County’s oldest traditions.
About 30 war veterans – joined by members of two ladies Auxiliary groups and a local Boy Scout troop – lined the road bordering the cemetery, the men more brittle than decades past but organized like disciplined soldiers, nonetheless.
The cemetery was the first of three stops for the local branches of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion and VFW Ladies Auxiliary. The second and third ceremonies were at the IOOF and Calvary cemeteries, respectively, in Hollister.
At each location throughout the morning, local groups paid tribute to fallen soldiers, their gravestones dressed by American flags for Memorial Day weekend. Dolly De Vasier, president of the VFW Ladies Auxiliary, said she put out 819 flags on Saturday.
The local VFW and American Legion posts have performed the same commemoration at the same locations for more than 50 years, according to Charlie Scott, commander of the Hollister VFW. The organizations follow “protocol” of the national VFW, he said.
“It’s for veterans paying respects to brothers who didn’t make it back, or did and have now passed on,” Scott said. “It includes for veterans all the way back. Some of these graves around here go back to the Civil War and the Spanish American War.”
From the cemetery hilltop an ensemble of musicians with drums, horn and wind instruments played “Our Director” – traditionally the opening melody at each of the three Memorial Day ceremonies.
“Escort, Atten-tion! Forward, march!” hollered Gabriel Pastore, the commander of the San Juan VFW post.
The soldiers stomped the dirt encircling the cemetery in unison – several flags risen high at the troop’s front – and arrived about 50 feet from the band at the hilltop site of remembrance.
After the National Anthem and the reading of a prayer, representatives from the veterans organization paid tribute to fallen soldiers by making short speeches and laying wreaths – a “symbol of our remembrance,” according to Pastore.
“Firing Squad commander, perform your duty!” Pastore commanded.
Scott, one of four members in the squad, ordered the men: “Load, aim, fire!” and repeated himself twice thereafter.
The band played the traditionally somber war melody “Taps.” Onlookers who have likely heard “Taps” hundreds of times wept to the sound of the high-pitched harmony and its association with deceased soldiers.
The first ceremony closed with the sounds of the relatively festive “Service Hymns” as participants marched away.
Each of the two ceremonies after followed the same guidelines. Some faces in the crowds changed. And the number of onlookers and members of veterans groups dwindled at the two Hollister locations, but the message didn’t lessen in forcefulness at either site. The mood remained just as somber, respectful, just as it abides year after year.
This was the 20th time at the local Memorial Day ceremonies for the band – which includes residents of San Benito County, Morgan Hill, Monterey, Salinas, Santa Cruz, Fresno and Gustine. Its members, including several veterans, play together only on Memorial Day.
“We do it because we want to recognize the servicemen who’ve passed away and are still serving,” said Director Bob Bouchard, who is also a former superintendent of San Benito County schools.
Hollister resident George Gilroy, 86, whose great-grandfather founded the City of Gilroy, has been in the band for all of its 20 years and said he plans to return again next year. Gilroy is a World War II veteran who fought at the Battle of the Bulge. He also attended the original dedication of the Veterans Memorial Building in 1927.
“I’m a historian, an antique,” he said.
This was Vietnam War veteran Larry Kirkish’s first year in the band. Though paying tribute is nothing new for a man who buried more than 400 soldiers as a bugler in the war.
“It’s an honor to do this, it’s truly an honor,” he said, “to give half my day for guys who gave it all up.”
Vietnam veteran Paul Araballo, despite the day’s somber mood, said he looks forward to the event each year, to pay his respects.
Organizers said the half-century-old tradition will continue as long as one simple condition is met by current and future generations.
“So long as two comrades survive, so long will the VFW pay tribute to the fallen,” he said during the IOOF ceremony. “To their courage and patriotism, for their service on land, on sea, in air.”
