Dressed in a gray T-shirt with a large eagle emblazoned on the front, Gilbert Ibarra arrived at a small park in the town of Joshua Tree on Monday morning, thinking about the friends he lost at the tail end of the Vietnam War in 1975.
A former Marine, Ibarra said his unit took part in the Mayaguez incident that resulted in two of his buddies being left on an island near the Cambodian coast, where they were likely killed by the Khmer Rouge.
“They were 19,” Ibarra said, his eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses on this warm Memorial Day morning. “I’m here to remember my buddies. That’s the part I hold in my heart.”
Ibarra was among about 75 people who gathered Monday for an hourlong Memorial Day service at the Joshua Tree Memorial Park, a small cemetery in the high desert town. Debbie and Ron Waggoner, his neighbors from the nearby community of Yucca Valley, were seated next to him.
“We’ve had a busy weekend, but we thought today should be set aside for this,” Debbie said. “We don’t want to forget the people who paid for our freedom.”
The Memorial Day events at Joshua Tree Memorial Park included a bagpiper, speakers, a color guard and a dove release.
(Deborah Netburn / Los Angeles Times)
For many Americans, Memorial Day marks the first day of summer — the start of beach days and backyard barbecues. But in Southern California and across the country, including at the Los Angeles National Cemetery near UCLA, people gathered to honor the men and women who died in service to the nation.
“We’re all here, witnessing the silent cost of war,” said Russell Martin, a chaplain and commander in the Navy who gave the invocation at the Memorial Day event in Joshua Tree. “This day is not just a day in the calendar. It’s a sacred pause to remember those who died in service to the idea that freedom is worth defending.”
Located about 20 miles west of the Marine Corps’ Air Ground Combat Center, many attendees of the Joshua Tree Memorial Park event had served in the military themselves. Bob Hoyt, who was wearing a leather chauffeur hat and yellow suspenders that look liked measuring tape, served in the Navy from 1966 to 1970. He wandered among the white folding chairs, distributing patriotic refrigerator magnets that he made himself.
“I self-promoted myself to captain and now I call myself Captain America,” he said. “The older I get, the more I love this country, and I try to promote that love however I can.”
In the front row, Anne Lear, who served for a year in Afghanistan and was recently named captain of the local chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, sat with her friend Debbie Johnson, captain of the local chapter of the American Legion. Both organizations aim to help veterans with whatever they might need, from aiding people in their homes to paying for an ambulance to transport a former service member to the hospital.
“You’re in the presence of some serious women power here,” Johnson said.
The service, which featured bagpipe music, a color guard and the laying of wreaths, concluded after about an hour with the release of a dozen white doves from a woven basket.
The birds flew as a group, circling the shade canopy and modest makeshift podium, the American flag at half-mast, snapping furiously in the wind.
Korean and Vietnam war veterans salute during the opening proceedings at the annual Memorial Day ceremony at the Los Angeles National Cemetery.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
