Please join me on Memorial Day weekend as we honor the brave men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation and pays special tribute to our local service members and veterans.
Orange County has a long and proud military tradition.
From 1942 to 1999, Irvine was home to Marine Air Station El Toro, the largest Marine Corps Air Station on the West Coast. During World War II, the Korean Conflict, and the Vietnam War, thousands of United States Marines, as well as airmen, sailors and soldiers, departed for war from MCAS El Toro.
Many never returned.
Sunday, May 26, 2018 at 4:00 p.m.
Candle Lighting Ceremony: Northwood Gratitude and Honor Memorial
4531 Bryan Avenue, Irvine CA 92620
The Northwood Gratitude and Honor Memorial, dedicated in 2010, is the nation’s first and only memorial dedicated exclusively to listing the names of all the fallen American service members in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The names of every service member who has died in Afghanistan and Iraq are engraved in granite in a permanent memorial, to assure that future generations of Americans will remember and honor them with gratitude as we do today.
The ceremony will honor our fallen heroes from all generations, with special tribute to those fallen heroes of the recent and ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The candle lighting ceremony will include presentations from and honor Gold Star families. Please bring lawn chairs or blankets for seating.
Monday, May 27, 2019 at 10:00 a.m.
Memorial Day Ceremony: Col. Bill Barber Marine Corps Memorial Park
4 Civic Center Plaza, Irvine CA 92606
Col. Bill Barber Marine Corps Memorial Park, located next to City Hall, is named in honor of Korean War Medal of Honor recipient and Irvine resident Marine Corps Colonel William E. Barber (1919-2002).
Attendees will have the opportunity to memorialize our troops’ sacrifice by writing a brief Remembrance Card to be posted on a memory board.
As I have done in past years, I will be filling out a memorial card for my cousin, PFC Irwin Handler, USMC, who was killed in Korea, and for the son of family friends, LCPL Donald J. Hogan, USMC, Navy Cross, who was killed in Afghanistan.
Irvine will also specifically honor our own fallen heroes:
Second Lieutenant Mark J. Daily
Chief Warrant Officer Steven Michael Larrabee
Lance Corporal Michael S. Probst
Lieutenant Commander Keith E. Taylor
Cards will be also available for well-wishers to send a message of appreciation and support to Irvine’s adopted 211/Marine Battalion.
As stated so beautifully and appropriately by the Veterans of Foreign Wars:
“Pausing to remember and honor America’s fallen service members is a practice dating back more than 100 years. Since the days of the Civil War, humble Americans have gathered together on Memorial Day to remember and pay tribute to all who have fought and selflessly surrendered the precious gift of life, so that other could live free.
Again we gather this Memorial Day, as a nation solemnly united in remembrance of the fallen defenders of our great nation. Freedom is not free. It has come at great cost, paid for with the lives of our sons and daughters, husbands and wives, sisters and brothers, friends and comrades.
This Memorial Day, pause to reflect on the absolute selflessness of the 1.3 million members of our nation’s military who paid the price needed to ensure our way of life endures, and let us not forget the families whose pain will never go away, but may lessen with our thanks and prayers.”
God Bless our fallen, their families, and our men and women in uniform all over the world.
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