Greetings from the Greater San Francisco Bay Area. In April, CA-3 met to celebrate Easter at a ‘no-host’ meeting. All members brought various items for table decorations and raffle prizes, and we had an ‘exchange’. Members brought military shirts, hats, mugs, whatever, that they no longer used. Everything was placed on a table, and anyone present could take whatever they wanted from this display of items. A small group of us met in May for lunch. In June, the larger group again met at the meeting hosted by Loyal Escorts Angie Fredekind, Cheryl Christensen, and friend Barbara Morgan.
During the Memorial Day weekend, CA-3 President Susan Johnston participated in several ceremonies. On Saturday, May 25th, Susan participated in the Flag laying ceremony. Community volunteers and organizations placed an American Flag on the gravesite of every Veteran buried in the Tracy Public Cemetery. A very short ceremony was held at each gravesite. First the flag was placed, then the group stood at attention, saluted, and said: “rank, name, era, service branch, thank you for your service”. Then we would move on to the next gravesite. On Monday, May 27th, Susan participated in the laying of wreaths at the ceremonial tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Tracy Cemetery. Any organization/member of the public was invited to lay one of the available wreaths, stating who they were laying the wreath in honor of. The combined VFW/American Legion Honor Guard fired a ceremonial 3 volleys, along with the playing of taps. Later in the day, Susan participated in the ceremony at the War Memorial in Tracy, which included the reading of the names of all service members from Tracy, California, who killed in action, starting with World War 1 to present.
Loyal Escort Vern Smith participated in a very special Memorial Day Service. As he writes: “ More than 10 years ago, a local cemetery decided to save money by canceling its Memorial Day Program that it had sponsored for years. This was a big disappointment for all the local military organizations who had participated in this annual activity. The following year, that same cemetery decided to restart the program. We were invited back, but our Marine Corps League Commandant proposed that Detachment 919 would have their own Memorial Day Activity minus all the political speeches and High School Bands, etc. From that day on, we have visited 7 San Francisco Bay Area Cemeteries and a beach on the S.F. Bay. to pay homage to our 54 deceased members, 11 of whom are our Sister Marines. A U.S. Flag and a Marine Corps Flag are placed in the soil at each Headstone, Crypt or Niche. For those deceased members who have had their ashes scattered at sea, or are interred at other sites, Flags are placed on the beach in a location where they will be washed out at high tide. After the presentation of Flags, thoughts and stories of the deceased are shared. Our Chaplain says a beautiful prayer and our ceremony concludes with a hearty “SEMPER FI!” Every year, Linda Morgan, mother of Captain Randy Guzman waits at her son’s graveside for our little ceremony. Randy was the Recruiting Officer that was killed in the Oklahoma Bombing of the Murrah Federal Building.” CA-3 thanks Vern and his Marine Corps League Detachment for this touching yearly tribute to our sister Marines and CA-3 members.
On June 11, 2019, Kaiser Redwood City Medical Center held a “Topping Off Celebration/Employee Wellness Pop Up Event” on campus. All employees at the medical center had the opportunity to sign the last steel beam that will be placed on our new SMOB currently under construction. Dignitaries from Redwood city and San Mateo County who attended this event were Supervisor Warren Slocum, RWC Councilmember Shelly Masur, RWC Manager Melissa Stevenson Diaz, staff rom Congresswoman Speier’s office, Assembly Member Marc Berman’s office and Supervisor Don Horsley’s office, the CEOs of the RWC Chamber and SAMCEDA (San Mateo County Economic Development Assn and IBEW officials. The event was very well represented by various RWC departments and committees with booths for employees to stop by to obtain information and pick-up swags. Booths included the Physician Health & Wellness, Human Resources, Wellness, Work Place Safety, EAP and Massage therapists. Of course, RWC KPVA committee members, Lily Brockmeier (USMC), Brett Austin (Army), Ron Cook (Navy), Gary Leicht (Army) and Diana Bruce (Army) were available to recruit and meet fellow KP employee veterans at our RWC KPVA booth. We gave away awesome swags from lanyards, service branch badge holders, t-shirts & retractable badge clips.
CA-3 members participated in the First Marine Division Association’s 5th annual SOS Breakfast held at the Moffett Field Museum on June 22nd. Members Kathy Wright and Barbara Naas attended along with Loyal Escorts Vern Smith, Angie Fredekind, and Sarah Rivera. The food was outstanding and the male Escort filled up his plate 3 times, with choices of bread, biscuits, Ground Beef with brown gravy, Creamed/Chipped Beef and a Sausage with a Southern Style Gravy. Colonel Brendon Kearny, assistant to General Jan July, the head of the Marine’s Memorial club gave a talk on the Memorial Club and the afternoon concluded with a raffle.
This year, CA-3 again participated in the Redwood City 4th of July Parade. Several CA-3 members, Loyal Escorts, and family participated in this event as part of the Marine Corps contingent, which included Detachment # 10 Marine Corps League, Woman’s Marine Association Greater San Francisco Bay Area Chapter CA-3, Golden Gate Chapter 1st Marine Division Assn. and The Golden Gate Young Marines. We all marched or rode behind the Young Marines Color Guard, through the streets of Redwood City, to the cheers of thousands.
CA-3 President Susan Johnston participated in 6 funeral/memorial services as a member of the combined American Legion/Veterans of Foreign Wars Honor Guard.