May 24, 2017 by Melissa Fox

Join Me as Irvine Honors Our Fallen Heroes

“A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.” — President John F. Kennedy

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” — President John F. Kennedy

Please join me this weekend as Irvine honors the brave men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation.

Irvine 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.

As the daughter of a combat veteran and as an Irvine City Councilmember, I am proud that Irvine will honor our fallen heroes in two ceremonies this weekend:

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Candle Lighting Ceremony: Northwood Gratitude and Honor Memorial

4531 Bryan Avenue, Irvine CA 92620

4:00 p.m.

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 also a dedication ceremony for the memorial expansion. We will also hear from and honor Gold Star families. Please bring lawn chairs or blankets for seating.

Monday, May 39, 2017

Memorial Day Ceremony: Col. Bill Barber Marine Corps Memorial Park

4 Civic Center Plaza, Irvine CA 92606

10:00 a.m.

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 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.

Cards will also be available for well-wishers to send a message of appreciation and support to Irvine’s adopted 211/Marine Battalion.

Click here to download a pre-made remembrance card.

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.

Every American owes a great debt to the courageous men and women who have selflessly given their all to defend and protect our way of life. And while giving back to the extent they deserve is impossible, celebrating their memory and honoring their most selfless deeds offers a start.

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.”

May 22, 2017 by Melissa Fox

Celebrate Harvey Milk Day — Be an Agent of Change!

I am proud to join millions of people in California and throughout the world today in celebrating the life of Harvey Milk, born on this day in 1930 and murdered in 1978 because of his outspoken and courageous activism in the fight for equal rights for all people regardless of sexual orientation.

When Harvey Milk first ran for supervisor in San Francisco in 1977, he was told that an openly gay man could never get elected. When he won, he became the first openly gay non-incumbent ever to win an election for public office in the United States.

Now there are hundreds of openly gay men and women serving their communities and states in elected office.

We’ve come a long way, thanks in large measure to the courage of Harvey Milk.

But much more needs to be done.

We must fight for the elimination of violence and discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity – in our own communities and throughout the world.

We must ensure that governments everywhere respect the dignity and human rights of every minority group and every marginalized community.

When President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Harvey Milk the Medal of Freedom, our nation’s highest civilian award, he said Milk was “an agent of change” who “saw an imperfect world and set about improving it, often overcoming great obstacles along the way.”

Let’s honor Harvey Milk by each of us, in our own way, being an agent of change.

September 18, 2016 by Melissa Fox

“We Live in Fame or Go Down in Flame”

A-26 Invader from my father’s squadron on a mission during the Korean War. Photo by Stanley Kay.

Today, September 18, 2016, is the 69th anniversary of the creation of the United States Air Force, which became an independent military service on September 18, 1947.

The Air Force evolved from the United States Army Signal Corps in the early 1900s, and then into the United States Army Air Corps and the Army Forces in World War II.

My father, Stan Kay, in the U.S. Air Force in Korea during the Korean War.

The mission of the Air Force declared to be:

to preserve the peace and security, and provide for the defense, of the United States, the Territories, Commonwealths, and possessions, and any areas occupied by the United States;
to support national policy;
to implement national objectives;
to overcome any nations responsible for aggressive acts that imperil the peace and security of the United States.

The stated mission of the USAF today is to “fly, fight, and win in air, space, and cyberspace.

My father, Stan Kay, served in the United States Air Force during the Korean War, flying A-26 Invaders on bombing missions against North Korean targets.

A-26s from my father’s bomber squadron flying on a mission during the Korean War. View from my father’s perspective as navigator.

He never fully recovered his hearing.

He never considered himself a hero.

But he was.

Thank you, Dad, for teaching me to “Aim High.”

Happy Birthday to the United States Air Force and thank you to all the brave men and women who have served and are serving in the United States Armed Forces.

May 27, 2016 by Melissa Fox

Join Me as Irvine Honors Our Fallen Heroes

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” President John F. Kennedy

Please join me this weekend as Irvine honors the brave men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation.

Many never returned.

As the daughter of a combat veteran and as an Irvine Community Services Commissioner, I am proud that Irvine will honor our fallen heroes in two ceremonies this weekend:

Sunday, May 29, 2016

Candle Lighting Ceremony: Northwood Gratitude and Honor Memorial

4531 Bryan Avenue, Irvine CA 92620

4:00 p.m.

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. We will also hear from and honor Gold Star families. Please bring lawn chairs or blankets for seating.

Monday, May 30, 2016

Memorial Day Ceremony: Col. Bill Barber Marine Corps Memorial Park

4 Civic Center Plaza, Irvine CA 92606

10:00 a.m.

Col. Bill Barber Marine Corp Memorial Park, located next to City Hall, is named in honor of Korean War Medal of Honor recipient and Irvine resident Marine Corp Colonel William E. Barber (1919-2002). Attendees will have the opportunity to memorialize our troops’ sacrifice by writing a brief remembrance to be posted on a memory board. Cards will also be available for well-wishers to send a message of appreciation and support to Irvine’s adopted 211/Marine Battalion. Click here to download a pre-made remembrance card.

As stated so beautifully and appropriately by the Veterans of Foreign Wars:

God Bless our fallen, their families, and our men and women in uniform all over the world.”

April 27, 2015 by Melissa Fox

Come Listen to a Free Jazz Concert and Support Woodbridge Village Center this Thursday, April 30

Come listen to a free jazz concert and support Irvine’s Woodbridge Village Center this Thursday, April 30!

The Irvine Public Schools Foundation and The Irvine Company are sponsoring a jazz band performance by Irvine High School from 6:00-7:00 pm. There will also be in-store specials and drawings.

Enjoy a meal with family and friends in the beautiful outdoor courtyard while listening to the musical talents of Irvine High School’s Jazz Band.

There is also a contest drawing and discounts from participating Woodbridge Village Center merchants.

It’s fun for the whole family!

When Woodbridge opened on Father’s Day in 1975, it was Irvine’s premier master planned community, showcasing Irvine’s commitment to creating villages of single family homes and townhouses, with parks, greenbelts, bicycle trails, interconnecting pathways, open space, and neighborhood shopping.

Now, forty successful years later, Woodbridge Village Center remains an integral part of Irvine, connected to both lakes, Woodbridge high school and walking trails, literally in the center of Irvine.

Please join your neighbors this Thursday, April 30, to support your Woodbridge Village Center and local businesses!

May 25, 2014 by Melissa Fox

Memorial Day: The Lesson of the Four Chaplains

When my husband was a child, his father, a World War II U.S. Navy veteran, told him the story of the Four Chaplains of the USAT Dorchester as an example of American heroism and American values.

It is a story worth sharing again this Memorial Day:

On the night of February 3, 1943, United States Army Transport ship Dorchester was en route from Newfoundland to England via Greenland, when it was hit by torpedoes from a German submarine.

The Dorchester listed sharply to starboard, then began to sink almost immediately into the icy water. The torpedoes knocked out the Dorchester‘s electrical system, leaving the ship dark. The ship was overcrowded and there were insufficient lifeboats or lifejackets for the 904 men on board.

Four Chaplains, Melissa Fox, Irvine Commissioner Melissa Fox, melissafoxblog, melissajoifox, Melissa Fox blog

The Four Chaplains of the USAT Dorchester: Rabbi Alexander D. Goode, Rev. George L. Fox, Rev. Clark V. Poling, and Father John P. Washington

As the Dorchester sank, the ship’s four chaplains aided the wounded, sought to calm the men and organize an orderly evacuation of the ship, helped get the men into lifeboats and then gave up their own lifejackets when the supply ran out. They helped as many men as they could into lifeboats, then linked arms in prayer as the ocean water overcame the deck and the ship sank.

A survivor later explained:

“As I swam away from the ship, I looked back. The flares had lighted everything. The bow came up high and she slid under. The last thing I saw, the four chaplains were up there praying for the safety of the men. They had done everything they could. I did not see them again. They themselves did not have a chance without their life jackets.”

As the ship went down, survivors in nearby lifeboats could see the four chaplains – their arms linked and braced against the slanting deck. Their voices could also be heard offering prayers.

Survivors said could hear different languages mixed in the prayers of the chaplains, including Jewish prayers in Hebrew and Catholic prayers in Latin.

Twenty-seven minutes after the torpedoes hit, the Dorchester was gone.

The four chaplains were:

Lt. George L. Fox, age 42, Methodist.

Lt. Alexander D. Goode, age 32, Jewish.

Lt. Clark V. Poling, age 32, Reformed Church in America.

Lt. John P. Washington, age 34, Roman Catholic.

For the Four Chaplains sacrifice, on December 19, 1944 they were posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Distinguished Service Cross. Later, due to the under-fire requirement to receive the Medal of Honor, Congress decided to authorize a special medal that carried the same weight. It was called the Chaplain’s Medal for Heroism. These four men are the only chaplains ever to receive this award.

On this Memorial Day, I will be thinking about the four chaplains, arms linked and praying together on the deck of the USAT Dorchester in 1943.

And I will be thinking, with gratitude, of all of the men and women of our Armed Forces who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the rights and freedoms that we hold to be essential, including the right to be free from discrimination based on one’s race, faith, gender or sexual orientation.

According to the Four Chaplains Memorial Foundation, the lesson of the sacrifice made by the four chaplains is “unity without uniformity” and “selfless service to humanity without regard to race, creed, ethnicity, or religious beliefs.”

The Reverend Daniel Poling, father of Chaplain Clark V. Poling, said that the lesson of the Four Chaplains is that “as men can die heroically as brothers so should they live together in mutual faith and goodwill.”

My father-in-law said it more simply: We are all Americans.

May 22, 2014 by Melissa Fox

Celebrating Harvey Milk Day 2014 – Be an Agent of Change!

Now there are hundreds of openly gay men and women serving their communities and states in elected office, including our own Speaker of the California Assembly, Toni Atkins, and my very dear friend, Huntington Beach Mayor Pro Tem Joe Shaw.

We’ve come a long way, thanks in large measure to the courage of Harvey Milk.

But much more needs to be done.

As Harvey Milk said, “Hope will never be silent.”

We must continue to fight for marriage equality for all.

We must fight for the elimination of violence and discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity – in our own communities and throughout the world.

We must ensure that governments everywhere respect the dignity and human rights of every minority group and every marginalized community.

Today, the United States Postal Service will issue a Harvey Milk Forever Stamp to honor this brave and visionary leader.

To truly honor Harvey Milk, each of us, in our own way, must become agents of change.