There are multiple opportunities to honor the men and women who have sacrificed everything for their country this Memorial Day weekend.
- On Sunday morning, there will be a service in memory of the troops who died in combat at the chapel-service building of the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base. John Fer, United States Air Force (ret) will be the service’s guest speaker. Fer was shot down during the Viet Nam War and remained a POW for years.
The service begins at 9:30 a.m. at the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base, 11200 Lexington Drive in Building 6, the Liberty Theater.
- The United States National Submarine Memorial West, located at Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach, will be the site of annual public Memorial Day services Monday. The 11:00 am observance will include the unique "tolling the boats" ceremony, during which the name of each of the 52 U.S. submarines lost during World War Two is read aloud, along with the fate of each crew, as a bell is tolled. The guest speaker will be Commander Eric L. Severseike, Commanding Officer of the attack submarine USS San Francisco (SSN 711).
The free event will be open to the public and is hosted by the Los Angeles Area "Diesel Boaters" Chapter of the U.S. Submarine Veterans of World War II, and the Los Angeles-Pasadena Base of the United States Submarine Veterans, Inc. No advance reservations are needed.
The submarine memorial is located aboard the naval weapons station at 800 Seal Beach Boulevard. More information about the National Submarine Memorial site is also available online at http://www.cnic.navy.mil/SealBeach/index.htm. - The Los Alamitos-based nonprofit organization Honoring Our Fallen Inc. will hold a Memorial Day ceremony to pay tribute to veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan Monday at 5 p.m. New names will be added to the Northwood Gratitude and Honor Memorial at 4531 Bryan Ave.
