The crowd may have been smaller this year, but the emotions rang true and clear as veterans, old and young, along with families and others who still remembered, gathered at the Veterans Memorial Building in downtown Hollister on Memorial Day to honor the millions who have died serving their country.
Sitting up front were one or two men bent with age who served in World War II and Korea. But the majority of those wearing VFW and American Legion hats and vests were Vietnam vets, while several younger vets with military insignia patches, bore witness to more recent conflicts in the Middle East.
For Bernie Ramirez, VFW Post 9242 commander and Army combat veteran, Memorial Day is just one more that he remembers his two buddies who never came back. He told the crowd that a day doesn’t go by that he doesn’t think of them and that he will continue to do so until the day he dies.
Then he read a poem dedicated to the Vietnam veteran as his voice choked with emotion: “Yes, I’m a Vietnam veteran and I’m proud. When you see my tears don’t feel sorry for me. The tears are for a reason. The tears are for pain, hope, joy and thanks. The tears of pain for those who did not come home. The tears of hope that there will never be another war. Tears of joy because our country has finally separated the warriors from the war. And tears of thanks for taking the burden off our soldiers by erecting the wall.”
Hollister Fire Chief Bob Martin Del Campo takes Memorial Day very seriously as he continues to serve a 33-year career that began as a young Marine and continues as a master sergeant in the Army.
“When I first came in, it was all about whatever the recruiters told you about God and country,” he said about why he continues to serve. “After building relationships with all the people you serve with, you realize you’re there for them. Every time I re-enlisted, I was thinking ‘I can’t get out. I’ve got these guys to take care of.’ Now I’ve got two boys in the military. It’s like, I don’t want to abandon them.”
He said his feelings about Memorial Day focus on those he served with in the Middle East.
“Every one of them came back, but I didn’t do a good job keeping up with them and we lost a lot of them through suicide,” he said. “It was important for me to be here today and all of us just need to do a better job of keeping track of one another and making sure we’re doing okay.”
Bob Burnham served in the Air Force for 25 years. For him, Memorial Day has only one meaning: to honor those who died protecting America.
“This is a day to honor those who aren’t here,” he said.
Ray Friend now serves as the commander of American Legion Post 69 and as a Hollister city councilman. As a young sailor during the Vietnam War, he served aboard the aircraft carrier Enterprise. These days, he works through the American Legion to make sure today’s veterans are honored and get the services they need.
“Today, the Vietnam vets are welcomed home, finally,” he said. “They weren’t in 1970, when I went back to school in Sacramento and a lot of people wouldn’t even talk to you if you wore a veteran’s hat. This is the day we think about the guys who didn’t get to come home. It bothers me that we know there were 18- to 20-year-old kids that never really got a chance to live out to their full potential.”
San Benito County Supervisor Mark Medina said he wanted make sure people understood the difference between Veterans Day and Memorial Day.
“Veterans Day is a time when we recognize anyone who has served in the United States military, whereas Memorial Day is a time to reflect on people who gave their lives so we can have this freedom we have,” he said.
Hollister Mayor Ignacio Velazquez spoke to the crowd and asked them to thank the more than one million who sacrificed their lives. He told of how he recently spoke to a group of young people and told them if they really wanted to succeed, they first had to appreciate the sacrifices of others for them. He advised them to visit the Vietnam Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., as well as the American Cemetery in France.
He said he realized that most of them had dismissed him in their minds, but he knew their parents, who were seated in the back of the room, knew what he was talking about. But he went on to explain the significance of each and the magnitude of the sacrifices on their behalves. When he spoke of the Vietnam Memorial, he told them that each name etched on the wall had a history with people who love and miss them.
“If you run your finger across one of those names, you will instantly feel that connection with that person and you will never forget that moment,” Velazquez said.
He went on to describe the beaches of Normandy and the more than 10,000 markers in the American Cemetery.
“If you look closely you will see that most of those who died were your age,” the mayor said. “They all had the same ideas, the same dreams of being successful and happy lives. But they gave up those lives for you. That’s what freedom is.”
Then he quoted from the Gettysburg Address: “’We are here highly resolved that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom.’ God bless all of you and may God bless Hollister and the United States of America.”
The ceremony ended with laying of wreaths at the memorials for those who had died in war, followed by a salute from the VFW Honor Guard.
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