Drew Wakefield speaks to the crowd of 200-plus people who attended Monday’s Memorial Day Service at the Goleta Cemetery. Wakefield urged people to remember those who have died and to ‘say their name’ to other people. 
Bill Boetticher plays the bagpipes to honor the various branches of the military at Monday’s Memorial Day Service at the Goleta Cemetery. 
Sage Henson, left, an elementary school student in Summerland, leads the Pledge of Allegiance, as Ret. Command Sgt. Jonathan M. Church salutes, at Monday’s Memorial Day Service at the Goleta Cemetery. 
Goleta Mayor Pro Tempore James Kyriaco shares the story of his grandfather who fought in World War II at Wednesday’s Memorial Day Service at the Goleta Cemetery. 
Drew Wakefield speaks to the crowd of 200-plus people who attended Monday’s Memorial Day Service at the Goleta Cemetery. Wakefield urged people to remember those who have died and to “say their name,” to other people.
Drew Wakefield didn't need to use a microphone for Monday's Memorial Day Service at the Goleta Cemetery District.
The more than 200 people in the audience heard his booming voice and message:
“Say their names,” said Wakefield, a motivational speaker. “Once you stop, the younger generation, they will not pick it up. When you go to your barbecue this afternoon, say their name. When you go to an event this afternoon, say their name.
“When you see young people in school, say their name, and let them know that the United States is by far the greatest country on the face of the Earth.”
Wakefield drove home the theme of remembering those who have served, and understanding that they made the ultimate sacrifice.
“Can you imagine, you are a 17-year-old, you are an 18-year-old, you are 19-year-old, you sign up to join in our military, you go from high school to D-Day?” Wakefield said. “You go from the land of the free and the plentiful, and you are now on a boat, and you are jumping off, not into the Pacific Ocean, into the beautiful sands, but you are in Normandy, and you are running into battle, left, right in front of you, in back of you. Your friends are getting shot down.”
Thousands of flags decorated the gravestones at the Goleta Cemetery.
The service included Elizabeth Rose Bryson performing the U.S. national anthem and Lee Greenwood's “Proud to be an American. Bill Boetticher played “Amazing Grace” on the bagpipes.
Ret. Command Sgt. Major Jonathan M. Church introduced the speakers, who included James Kyriaco, Goleta's mayor pro tempore and Wakefield. Sage Henson, a second-grade student at Summerland Elementary School, led the group of veterans and civilians in the Pledge of Allegiance.
The event was presented by the AMVETS Santa Barbara Post 3 and VFW Post 1649.
Wakefield talked about World War II and a “demonic” man named Adolf Hitler, who caused the Holocaust. He said that Great Britain and France would be speaking German right now if it weren't for the United States military.
“How many of you have had family and friends who have lost their lives over the years?” Wakefield said. “Say their name.”
Kyriaco, who's father and grandfather served in the U.S. military, said the day is about service and family.
“Family is what they fought for,” Kyriaco said. “Family is what they bled for. Family is what they died for.”
Kyriaco also gave credit to the women who served in their own way over the years.
“They raised the next generation,” Kyriaco said. “They had to raise the next generation, and sometimes they had to do it while they worked in factories, building the bombers that their husbands and their boyfriends and their brothers flew. The women of Memorial Day should never be forgotten.
Kyriaco told the story of his grandfather, Andy Kyriaco, who was born on Ellis Island on Sept. 11, 1920. He served in World II, and in Goleta worked at Jordano's.
“He grew up with racial slurs about being a greaseball because he was a Greek immigrant,” Kyriaco said. “But he kept his nose to the grindstone. He worked hard. He learned how to speak English in a monolingual Greek household.”
Eventually he flew bombers over Germany, Kyriaco said.
“I wonder what it must have been like for him and so many other veterans to lose their buddies, their fellow enlisted service members to combat,” Kyriaco said. “Those brave individuals who sacrificed their all for families, their fellow service members and their country.”
Kyriaco said the United States is a country that keeps improving itself.
“It's one thing to say we are the greatest nation in the world, and it's another thing to stay at it, to keep growing, to keep pushing, to not just say 'we did some great stuff and let's rest on our laurels,'” Kyriaco said. “But to always try to get better because that is what it means to be an American.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
