“We have forgotten, as a people, the cost of a free and undivided republic,” quoted retired Lieutenant Colonel Robert Buzby of the United States Marine Corps.
It was an overcast morning at Coronado’s Star Park on this year’s Memorial Day when Buzby recalled the words of General John A. Logan. Nearly 2,000 residents attended the ceremony in honor of those who had fallen in service to the country— to remember the cost of this free nation.
Councilmember Mike Donovan attended the event with the other council members.
“It’s just an honor to be here,” Donovan said. “We have this ceremony to celebrate the people that have died for our freedom, so it’s just an honor to be here.”
A cool and faint breeze fluttered through the people sitting in lawn chairs and on picnic blankets, small American flags stuck in the ground and in people’s hands as family members paid tribute to their fallen parents, partners and children.
Marines in their dress blues lined one side of the park—the families of the fallen sitting opposite of them—and Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey and guest speaker Vice Admiral Daniel L. Cheever sat in the middle.
Cheever joined the Navy in 1988, accumulating over 5,000 flight hours and over a dozen sea and shore tours combined before becoming Naval Aviation’s 10th Air Boss earlier this year.
“So many have given so much, but those we remember today gave all,” Cheever said.
Cheever went on to pay respects to those he knew personally who had died in combat over the years.
One by one, family members approached the memorial platform.
Wives, fathers and children laid flowers down as the crowd listened quietly to the commemoration of the life of the soldier who passed.
A father laid his tribute down, his hands clasped in front of him, his head down as he looked at the memorial to his son who had died when his plane crashed near Vance Air Force base in 2000.
His son had graduated from Coronado High School just five years before he crashed.
Charles Keating III paid tribute to his son, Charlie Keating IV who died in Iraq eight years ago.
Keating created a foundation for SEALs in east San Diego after his son was killed in combat. The C4 Foundation is named after his son.
A wife walked up to lay her tribute down to her husband who was lost in the Arabian Sea during a mission to confiscate Iranian-made weapons, her daughter following.
He died in January of this year.
The crowd watched on somberly, a few red hats noticeably sticking out of the sea of heads.
They were retired marines.
“It was the best one I’ve seen to date,” retired Marine and Coronado resident David Werner said. He has attended the Memorial Day services for the past 15 years.
“I thank God I live in this great nation, that I’m part of this great Navy and live in this great community,” Cheever said.
