Veterans Day, which originally was called Armistice Day, commemorating the end of WWI, was changed to its current name in May, 1954, to honor veterans who gave their lives in service to their country, as well as those currently serving in the military, said VFW Post Commander Warren Spayth.
This was the first official Veteran’s Day service at the park; however, similar events take place there on Memorial Day, Spayth said.
Although it was the beginning of a new tradition at Two Strike Park, the activities performed were a moving tribute that touched lives of many affected by wars fought in the past several decades on foreign soils.
“I don’t cry that often, but it brought tears to my eyes,” said U.S. Army Vietnam veteran Jack Connolly, 62, of La Cañada.
“This went over and beyond anything I’ve seen before,” Connolly said, referring to the table setting tribute, and a flag retiring ceremony conducted by Boy Scout Troop No. 288.
To retire an American flag, the flag must be burned. This is done “not in anger, [but as] releasing its spirit,” said Bob Fletcher, Boy Scout Troop No. 288 leader. At the ceremony, scouts handed out strips of the flag to audience members, which were later ceremoniously placed on a fire, managed by one of the scouts.
During the ceremony, Fletcher told of the importance of the flag in a prelude to the actual flag burning. “I am your flag,” he said, describing “Old Glory’s” creation on June 14, 1777 and how it has stood as a “silent sentinel of freedom and the emblem of the greatest free nation ” from the battlefields of Valley Forge to the many lands it flies over today.
Gary Jones, 63, of Sunland, a Vietnam veteran, said he’s glad the American Legion and VFW decided to hold the Veteran’s Day service. “It just seems like you should,” he said.
World War II veteran Nat Prescott, 82, a longtime JPL rocket scientist, said he was “very favorably impressed” by the ceremony. “It was a good ceremony dedicated to a lot of good people,” he said, adding, “We needed something like this.”
