Memorial Day events are planned throughout Los Angeles County
Five hundred U.S. Navy sailors will march along the Sixth Street Viaduct on Monday, joining traditional Memorial Day activities in Los Angeles County that also include the 32nd Memorial Day Parade in Canoga Park.
According to Branimir Kvartuk, media representative for LA Fleet Week, the walk in remembrance of fallen U.S. service members will begin at noon on the Boyle Heights side of the viaduct; sailors will line up 10 rows behind each other and 50 rows deep. All are welcome to follow them.
The names of thousands of fallen soldiers will be read during a traditional ceremony at Rosie the Riveter Park in Long Beach. NBC4's Michelle Valle reports on May 27, 2024.
The walk is timed to coincide with Los Angeles Fleet Week, an annual multi-day celebration of the nation's maritime services.
The Canoga Park Memorial Day Parade will honor Canoga Park High School graduates who have given their lives in military service since World War II. The opening ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. and will include a wreath-laying at the Wall of Honor and remarks by retired U.S. Army National Guard Major General Peter Gravett, the parade's grand marshal, as well as local, state and federal elected officials.
The parade will begin at 11 a.m. at the intersection of Sherman Way and Owensmouth Avenue and travel east to Cosycroft Avenue. The parade will feature more than 75 entries, including veterans organizations, mounted teams, military units and school bands, according to organizers, who expect between 30,000 and 35,000 people to march along the parade route.
Memorial Day festivities at Green Hills Memorial Park in Rancho Palos Verdes will begin at 10 a.m. and will include parachute jumps, a procession with flowers including a mounted troop, a civilian and military flyover and a performance by the Navy Band of the Southwest.
The keynote speaker will be retired U.S. Army Major General Mark A. Graham, who held a number of key command and staff positions in the United States, Germany and South Korea.
At a 2012 retirement ceremony at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where his wife Carol was also honored, Graham noted that their sons Jeff and Kevin "died fighting different battles."
Kevin Graham committed suicide in 2003 as a senior ROTC cadet preparing to become an Army medic. Nine months later, 2nd Lt. Jeff Graham was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Since then, the Grahams have dedicated themselves to helping people in the Army and civilian world learn about and prevent suicide.
The celebration will be streamed at greenhillsla.com/memorial-day-event-with-green-hills-livestream-2024/
A ceremony will begin at 5:30 a.m. at Rosie the Riveter Park in Long Beach to honor the 7,057 Americans who have died in combat and training since the Sept. 11 attacks, U.S. Central Command announced.
Gold Star family members, local active military, law enforcement, first responders and veterans will help read the names of the fallen in order of death as they are inscribed on the park's memorial wall.
According to Laura Herzog, founder and CEO of Honoring Our Fallen, which is organizing the event, the reading of names will begin at 5:45 a.m. and conclude at about 1 p.m. The nonprofit organization provides support to families of service members killed in the line of duty during the transfer of remains.
In addition, new plaques will be unveiled to honor those who gave their lives in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Gulf War, as well as law enforcement officers and firefighters who died in the line of duty, Herzog said.
Archbishop Jose H. Gomez will lead a special outdoor Memorial Day Mass at Resurrection Cemetery and Mortuary in Rosemead to honor the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. Army. The 10 a.m. Mass will be streamed on catholiccm.org and www.facebook.com/lacatholics .
Joseph Pietroforte, a sergeant in the U.S. Army during World War II who participated in the Battle of the Bulge and was a member of the 5th Infantry Division under Gen. George S. Patton, will be one of the speakers at the memorial ceremony, which will be held at the Hollywood American Legion Post 43 and will begin at 1 p.m.
Memorial Day ceremonies and activities are also scheduled for 8 a.m. at Hawaiian Gardens City Hall; 9 a.m. at Lancaster Cemetery, Lacey Park in San Marino and Whittier City Hall; 9:30 a.m. at Acton Community Center and Glendale City Hall; 10 a.m. at Park Lawn Cemetery in Bell Gardens; Cerritos Civic Center, at the 42nd Rainbow Division monument in Exposition Park, Forest Lawn Memorial Parks in Covina Hills, Hollywood and Long Beach; Veterans Park in Lomita; Los Angeles National Cemetery in Westwood; Eternal Valley Memorial Park in Newhall; and at the Veterans Monument on Mines Avenue in Pico Rivera; 11 a.m.At 11 a.m. at Inglewood City Hall, Del Valle Park in Lakewood, Norwalk City Hall and Wilmington Cemetery; and at 1 p.m. at Forest Lawn in Glendale.
Joe Biden Memorial Day Proclamation
In his Memorial Day proclamation, President Joe Biden declared Monday a day of prayer for permanent peace, identifying 11 a.m. in each time zone as a time for people to unite in prayer, citing a 1950 congressional joint resolution.
Biden also asked all Americans to observe the National Moment of Remembrance, which begins at 3 p.m. in every time zone under a bill signed into law in 2000 by then-President Bill Clinton. It was first held on Memorial Day in 2000 by Clinton's executive order in an effort to "restore Memorial Day to the noble meaning it was intended to be, to honor those who died serving our nation."
A Moment of Remembrance is "a way we can all help give back to the memorial on Memorial Day," said its founder Carmella LaSpada.
Biden also asked the governors of all U.S. states and territories and appropriate officials of all authorities to order that flags be flown at half-staff until noon on Memorial Day on all buildings, territories and warships in the country and in all areas under its jurisdiction and control.
Biden also asked the American public to fly the flag at half-staff from their homes by noon Monday.
"On this Memorial Day, we honor the brave women and men who made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation's freedom. We recommit ourselves to fulfill our sacred obligations to their survivors, families and caregivers. Together, we pledge to honor their memory as we continue their work to build a more perfect Union."
Memorial Day was first observed on May 30, 1868 as Decoration Day, when people decorated the graves of Civil War dead with flowers.
It was established 25 days earlier by Major General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of veterans who fought for the Union in the Civil War. It is believed that the date was chosen because flowers were blooming all over the country at that time.
By the late nineteenth century, Decoration Day ceremonies began to be held across the country on May 30. After World War I, the holiday was changed to honor Americans who died in all wars.
The term Memorial Day was first used in 1882, became more common after World War II, and was made the official name by federal law in 1967.
Memorial Day was observed on May 30 until it was moved to the last Monday in May in 1971 under the provisions of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which was enacted in 1968.