Leaders from Vandenberg Space Force Base and the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Blackfin spoke about honoring the sacrifice of military service members during Monday’s Memorial Day ceremony at the Santa Barbara Cemetery.
Retired Lt. John Blankenship welcomed the crowd and introduced speakers and performance groups throughout the event, including the Gold Coast Pipe Band, the Santa Barbara Choral Society, and the Prime Time Band.
Col. Robert Long, commander of Space Launch Delta 30 and the Western Launch and Test Range at Vandenberg, thanked the crowd for attending, and said he was a “firm believer that those who cannot be here would not want us to remain sorrowful.”
He added, “They would want us to make a positive and memorable day out of today, for their sacrifice ensures we have the freedom to do so.”
Long also shared the story of 20-year-old Army Cpl. Carmen Carrillo, who died during the Korean War and remained missing in action for decades.
Carrillo’s remains were recently identified and returned to Lompoc for burial in April.
“He was returned home after 72 years of waiting, and laid to rest with the recognition and honors he deserved,” Long said.
More than 7,600 Americans are still unaccounted-for from the Korean War, although hundreds of those are believed to be in the “non-recoverable” category, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
Inspiring stories of brave, fallen service members “act as a stark reminder that freedom isn’t free, but our democracy is worth fighting for,” said Lt. Christina Sandstedt of the U.S. Coast Guard Blackfin cutter stationed in Santa Barbara.
The Blackfin does search-and-rescue missions and law enforcement between Monterey and San Diego, and has a crew of 11, she said.
Sandstedt shared the story of one of her heroes, the only member of the Coast Guard to be awarded the Medal of Honor.
Signalman Douglas Munro enlisted in the Coast Guard, and in 1942 during WWII was sent to Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.
A group of marines was trapped by Japanese forces and needed to be evacuated, and Munroe was in charge of a group of 24 so-called Higgins boats, she said. Marines would run, a few at a time, to get into the boats when they landed on shore.
Munro manned a machine gun and put his own boat between enemy fire and evacuating marines, she said.
Munro was shot and killed, and he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. He is also named on the Wall of Heroes at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, “the only non-Marine to be honored in this way,” Sandstedt said.
Monday’s ceremony at the Santa Barbara Cemetery, 901 Channel Dr., was organized by the Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation.
