A day of remembrance

Marisa O’Neil

While thousands of people got an early start on their beach day

Monday, hundreds more gathered at Harbor Lawn Memorial Park to

celebrate the holiday’s true meaning.

This year marked the park’s 50th Memorial Day service, hosted by

the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3536. Boy Scouts, veterans,

families and community members came to the service on a

picture-perfect day to remember those who died for their country.

“I ask you to enjoy the beauty of the day,” Councilman Allan

Mansoor told the crowd. “But do so with reverence for those who have

given their lives and those who have risked their lives.”

The entire service was designed as a throwback to the park’s first

ceremony, back when the holiday was known as Decoration Day. Even the

illustrations on the program were almost identical to the original,

said master of ceremonies and post commander Harold Hohl.

Decoration Day was so named during the Civil War because the day

remembered the nation’s casualties of war by decorating their graves.

The tradition spread and in 1971, Congress declared Memorial Day a

national holiday.

At Monday’s ceremony, the park lived up to the original name with

flags decorating the walkways and veterans’ graves.

“Everywhere you look, you can see the red, white and blue,” Hohl

said. “Those are the colors we can always be proud of.”

More than 20 wreaths were laid at the ceremony, remembering the

dead from every branch of service, their family and others.

Simona Garibay, mother of Marine Cpl. Jose Angel Garibay, who died

in Iraq last year, laid a floral star on a Marine helmet in

remembrance of her son.

“I feel sad but good,” she said after the ceremony.

A tree was dedicated for 22-year-old Army Spc. Trevor Win’E, a

former Costa Mesa resident who died in a convoy on May 1 in Iraq. His

tree will join one for Garibay at a living memorial planned for the

park, Hohl said.

The Costa Mesa-based All-American Boys Chorus saluted veterans at

the service and sang patriotic songs. Members of the local National

Rifle Assn. fired a salute near the end of the ceremony, just before

the release of white doves.

After the ceremony, 83-year-old Costa Mesa resident Ray Fields

slowly made his way out of the park with the help of a Boy Scout.

Fields, who served on a destroyer in the South Pacific during World

War II, was eager to share stories, like the time they sunk two

submarines.

“It’s nice to come here and see some of my old buddies and pay

respects for the ones who’ve passed away,” he said.

* MARISA O’NEIL covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4268 or by e-mail at [email protected].