One local ceremony Saturday will help dedicate a new World War
II memorial in Washington, D.C., and another 51-year-old tradition
will continue Memorial Day when veterans visit cemeteries to
remember their fallen comrades.
One local ceremony Saturday will help dedicate a new World War II memorial in Washington, D.C., and another 51-year-old tradition will continue Memorial Day when veterans visit cemeteries to remember their fallen comrades.
The local branch of the American Legion is hosting the ceremony Saturday at the Veterans Memorial Building coinciding with the dedication of the new World War II memorial 3,000 miles away. It will take place from 11 a.m. to noon, followed by a lunch until 3 p.m.
At the Hollister ceremony, several speakers will talk, names of World War II veterans will be called off and veterans will lay wreaths in honor of those killed in action, according to Richard Herrera, public relations officer for the local American Legion.
Herrera recently visited the World War II memorial in Washington and took pictures to be displayed on easels at the dedication Saturday.
“It’s a brand new memorial for those who served and were killed in World War II,” Herrera said.
About 16 million Americans served in World War II, during which more than 400,000 people died.
The annual cemetery ceremonies two days later, organized by the American Legion and the local Veterans of Foreign Wars, starts at the San Juan Bautista cemetery at 9 a.m. From there, they move on to the IOOF and then Calvary cemeteries in Hollister.
