Hundreds of veterans, friends, family and community members gathered at the Chapel of the Chimes Cemetery and Memorial Park in Union City on a sunny and breezy Monday to honor those who have given so much to this country.
The event featured speakers from the political arena, including Union City Mayor Mark Green, Hayward Mayor Mike Sweeney, Senate Majority Leader from District 10 Ellen M. Corbett and Bob Wieckowski, Assemblymember from District 20.
Stories were shared from other speakers including the featured guest speaker, Mickey Ganitch, a crew member of the USS Pennsylvania and a survivor of the attacks on Pearl Harbor.
He told of how he joined the Navy in 1941, signing up in the Oakland recruiting office, and how his career led him to Pearl Harbor where he described watching a bomb fly past his head, missing him by only 45 feet when he was stationed in the crow’s nest of the Pennsylvania. Ganitch’s speech went on for an extended period, as the crowd occasionally encouraged him with cheers of “Alright, Mickey!”
The crowd was filled with veterans from all sections of the Bay Area, most displaying their respective regions on their hats, vests or shirts proudly, truly representing the strong presence of veterans, both young and old, have in the East Bay.
Alameda County is home to many veterans, making up 4.4 percent of the total population in 2010, according to the California Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Census Bureau. By contrast, Los Angeles County, with the largest population of any of the 58 in the state at 9,818,605, had veterans comprising 3.5 percent of its population in the same year.
Garrett Yee, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserves, who is currently on a two-week rest and recuperation stint before being deployed back into Kabul, Afghanistan, also spoke at the event. He shared with the crowd a memory of a flight he took aboard a military aircraft in which he rode alongside a casket covered with an American flag, to help watch over the “fallen warrior.”
“If you’ve lost a family member, like Tom Ballard here,” explained Colonel Yee in an interview with The Pioneer, referencing a gentleman who was also present at the event. “Every day is memorial day. Not just once a year.”
Colonel Yee stressed how important Memorial Day is in his speech to the crowd, and repeated that sentiment in an interview.
“It’s unpleasant to talk about or think about bad things that are happening, so we don’t focus on that as much as other things that might be more interesting in the news,” said Colonel Yee, making it clear that people don’t always want to truly understand the situation American service men and women are in.
The sacrifice of hundreds upon hundreds of U.S. service members was evident to all in attendance, as local Boy Scouts had placed American flags on the graves of all veterans that could be seen across the entire cemetery amongst the green grass.
One of the most apparent themes at this event was the sense of brotherhood, camaraderie and support.
Tom Ballard, a Newark resident who served 20 years in the Air Force, and whose son Kenneth Michael Ballard was killed in the line of duty in Najaf, Iraq on Memorial Day 2004, spoke about the importance of a day such as this to him.
“It rides pretty heavy in the heart, the fact that my son has passed on this day. It’s always been something special to me, and he has just made it that much more so.”
Ballard expressed pride in his service time, saying that he would do it again if he was still allowed, and that he does what he can to help other veterans that may be in trouble socially or financially.
“If I find a soldier that is in need of any kind of assistance, I give them direction. I have a lot of contacts to Veteran’s Affairs to assist the soldiers,” said Ballard, adding that it is important to also recognize and address the needs of the family members of a fallen soldier.
Mark W. Hodson, a resident of Union City, who says he has been coming to this ceremony for years, also feels a sense of pride in having “done his duty” serving in the Air Force, and was so glad to come to the event and experience the history of the soldiers from this area.
Although he didn’t in an active warzone himself, Hodson gave his opinion on veterans returning to harsh treatment, such as the way Vietnam veterans were judged for their actions when coming home.
“If you haven’t been in a warzone, you don’t know the stuff you see, and the stuff you have to react to,” said Hodson. “They’re not really put back into society, they are just thrown back into society.
“I think society shouldn’t be so critical on a person they know is coming back from a warzone. You know that person is probably going to have some kind of psychological effect because of the stuff they’ve had to see on a daily basis,” Hodson added.
Despite the rough reality of wars, conflicts and all military service, the feeling of pride and honor through service to the country was the overarching emotion present at the event.
“It’s about doing something bigger than just for yourself,” said Colonel Yee. “I will continue to serve as long as they let me.”
