[Click here for a related story on Veterans Day festivities in Santa Maria.]
A small crowd of veterans and their families gathered Tuesday morning at El Presidio de Santa Bárbara State Historic Park for a Veterans Day ceremony honoring those who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces.
The Los Soldados del Real de Santa Bárbara served as the Color Guard on Tuesday and presented the flag for each of the five branches of the military, and the American flag was raised in the Presidio’s courtyard, at 123 E. Canon Perdido St.
The event was sponsored by the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation.
A smaller crowd gathered on Tuesday out of the Presidio, and families walking in the area enjoying their day off stopped to listen to the event and take a few minutes to appreciate the service of those in the military.
Tuesday’s event featured speaker Rose Hayden Smith, an author, historian and professor at UCSB who wrote Sowing the Seeds of Victory: American Gardening Programs of World War I.
Smith called Tuesday a “sacred and special day” for Americans, and gave a historical perspective on the day itself before talking about the United States’ involvement in World Wars I and II.
Veterans Day began as Armistice Day after World War I, and is still called that in many areas of the world, she said, and marks the date and time that the Germans and Allies agreed to stop fighting in 1918.
“The losses of the war were simply too enormous and too painful not to acknowledge in a formal way across the world,” she said.
Smith took a moment to read the poem In Flanders Field, written by Lt. John McCrae, a Canadian physician that penned the work during World War I.
That poem inspired the remembrance poppies that have been used in the past to commemorate Veterans Day and with the ceramic poppies that are on exhibit at the Tower of London.
“It urges us to carry their work forward,” she said of the poem.
Earlier, Smith took a moment to thank the veterans in attendance, asking them to stand and be recognized.
“You have ensured the kinds of freedoms we enjoy, including the freedom to stand on a street corner and express our opinion without fear of retribution,” she said. “Thank you for your service.”
Events honoring veterans have been taking place throughout the last weekend, and on Sunday, many military vehicles and local veterans took to State Street for the Veterans Parade.
Fifteen vintage aircraft and helicopters performed a flyover in military formation over the parade Sunday, thanks to the Santa Barbara Airport and the Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation.
The flyover also took place during Saturday’s Santa Barbara Marathon, which held a a barbecue for all military personnel at the finish line.
There were numerous events around the South Coast on Tuesday, including a Veterans Day ceremony at the Goleta Valley Community Center that was followed by a tri-tip lunch for veterans and their families.
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at lcooper@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
