Long Beach honors veterans with inaugural Memorial Day event

Rep. Robert Garcia, former Long Beach mayor, helped inaugurate a new Long Beach Memorial Day event on Sunday, May 28, honoring men and women who lost their lives in service to their country.

“Let’s bow our heads and remember those who we have lost,” Garcia asked 200 in attendance at the “Sunset Ceremony – Honoring Our Heroes,” event, the first major activity to be organized by the city’s Office of Veterans Support, which was established on Oct. 1, 2022.

The event was held at the Long Beach Navy Memorial in Shoreline Aquatic Park, 200 Aquarium Way.

“I personally love this space,” Garcia said of the park which has views of the ocean and the Queen Mary. “I’ve always felt like this area doesn’t get enough attention. There are so many stories in this park, especially those connected with our city’s Navy history.”

The Navy Memorial site commemorates the 90-year history of the Navy in Long Beach and features the Navysphere, a 15-foot sculpture of a sphere by local artist Terry Braunstein who also spoke on remembering those who gave their lives for the United States.

The sculpture was commissioned by the Long Beach Navy Memorial Heritage Association and installed in 2004.

Garcia said he hoped the sunset ceremony would be “the start of a wonderful tradition on Memorial Day weekend in Long Beach.”

The keynote speaker was retired Marine Sgt. Maj. Charles Cook, Jr., president of the Los Angeles chapter of the Montford Point Marines.

In 1943, the Marine Corps began enlisting Black men who went for training at Camp Montford Point in Jacksonville, North Carolina.

Cook said that “only in America could someone like me, a sharecropper from Mt. Bayou, Mississippi, become a sergeant major in the United States Marine Corps.”

He said Memorial Day was a day that “unifies this country” and called Long Beach “a beacon for liberty.”

Other speakers included Long Beach Vice Mayor Cindy Allen and California Assemblyman Mike Gipson.

The ceremony opened with a dramatic flyover at 1,000 feet by two historic planes from the World War II era – a North American SNJ-5, a trainer for Marines, and a North American AT-6G, a trainer for the Army Air Corps.

Patriotic music was provided by the Navy Band Southwest Harborside Brass Quintet. Drills were provided by Lakewood High School’s Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps.

An information fair and activities featuring the Historical Society of Long Beach, People of the Earth Krew and other community-based organizations also were included.

At sunset, the retiring of colors and the playing of Taps to honor fallen service members ended the inaugural program.