At the Guadalupe Cemetery on Monday, Chief Master Sgt. Luis Magana called for people to “always, always remember” those who died while serving in the military.
“Memorial Day is a day for remembrance of those who have given their lives for the greater good of the nation,” said Magana, who is stationed at Vandenberg Space Force Base.
While many treat Memorial Day as a day off work or a chance to shop, commemorations like the one in Guadalupe and others in Santa Barbara County remain important, several speakers said.
“Those who died while serving, they faced danger and fear until the very end,” he said. “Among those we honor today are Air Force, Marine, Navy, Army and Coast Guard brothers and sisters — gone but never forgotten.”
Guadalupe’s American Legion Post members hosted the annual ceremony at the Guadalupe Cemetery, where flags waved on the breezy morning.
“It is imperative that our memories of these individuals do not die with them,” Magana said. “That our families, our communities, and our institutions pay tribute to the sacrifices these heroes have made.”
The ceremony also included a talk by historian Shirley Boydstun and reading of the names of those killed in action, followed by the release of balloons.
Public Safety Director Michael Cash, who leads the Guadalupe Police and Fire departments, also urged people to remember the meaning of the day.
“Memorial Day is more than a day of remembrance for our lost military personnel,” Cash said. “It’s also a day of remembrance for the ones they left behind. It’s a day that unites us as a country and unites us as a people.”
Veterans Day celebrates those who once wore the uniform while Armed Forces Day honors those still serving, he noted.
“Memorial Day is for those who never made it out of their uniform,” Cash said.
Third District Santa Barbara County Supervisor Joan Hartmann, who lost her father to injuries he received in the Korean War, noted the 1.4 million lives lost in the nation’s various wars,
This year, the holiday has added meaning with the pandemic and social justice movement sparked by the death of George Floyd when a Minnesota police officer kept his knee on the handcuffed man’s neck for more than nine minutes.
“Consider, too, that the social reckoning we are experiencing still today has its roots in slavery and the issues unresolved by the Civil War that killed 750,000 Americans — the most of any war in our entire history,” Hartmann said.
“What resonates most powerfully with me today, though, is that men and women go off to war to defend an American ideal — an ideal of democracy that has been a privilege for us to inherit, and has stood as a gift to the entire world, an example to aspire to,” she said. “That is no hyperbole. That is the truth.”
She added that it’s important to honor the sacrifices of those killed serving the nation and remember what they fought for — “one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.”
Similar ceremonies occurred in North County including Santa Maria, Orcutt and Solvang, where new plaques were unveiled, with one including the name of the community’s newest military casualty, Staff Sgt. Timothy Luke Manchester, 34, of Austin, Texas. He served in the Texas National Guard.
Manchester, who grew up in the Santa Ynez Valley, died earlier this year in a non-combat incident while deployed to Kuwait. Defense officials have not released his cause of death.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
