Folding chairs were set up around the flagpole area at Burwood Cemetery on River Road in Escalon for the Monday morning, May 25 Memorial Day service, as the Escalon American Legion Post started their day at that location.
While several people settled in to the rows of chairs, others set up their own lawn chairs and some stood for the duration of the short ceremony, which included guest speaker Casey Ryan, who serves as the Youth Pastor at Heritage Church in Escalon.
The ceremony at Burwood had a 10 a.m. start, with a welcome from Legion Post 263 Chaplain Casey Den Ouden. He also told those assembled there of the members of the post that had passed from last year’s Memorial Day service to this year, as well as noting veterans in the community that have passed away in the last year. He explained that active longtime members, Bill Coleman and Al Bellinger, were those Legion Post members that have passed in the last year.
“They served in the color and honor guards and flag ceremonies,” Den Ouden said. “And we are sorely going to miss them.”
Maria Valenzuela, who serves as an aide to District 5 San Joaquin County Supervisor Robert Rickman, attended the ceremony on his behalf and presented a special Certificate of Recognition to Legion Post Commander Mike Christensen as part of the Monday morning event, honoring those that gave the supreme sacrifice and noting the sacrifice of their families as well.
Taking his turn at the podium, Pastor Ryan read from John 15:13, a Bible passage that says ‘Greater love has no one than this, that someone should lay down his life for his friends.’
“In this passage, we see that there is a clear connection between love and sacrifice,” Ryan noted. “For love to be expressed it must cost something; it must be willing to give something up, make a sacrifice. That sacrifice can come in many forms. It may come in the form of time, or money spent, of hardships endured, but the greatest sacrifice that one can give is to give their life for another.”
He thanked those “brave men and women” who knew what the cost might be when they enlisted to serve, noting that they were “willing to give of themselves so that their friends and family – and even some complete strangers – could live in freedom.”
He told the crowd that their sacrifice was what purchased the freedom and security we enjoy today.
“The best way we have to honor their sacrifice is to enjoy the freedoms that they have afforded us,” Ryan shared. “And so, it is fitting that we barbecue and go to the beach and enjoy the mountains; to enjoy friends and family … but we must do so with reverence, recognizing that that freedom came at a cost. It is because of their sacrifices that we have the freedom to do all those good things.”
There was the laying of a memorial wreath near the flagpole, then the raising of the flag and lowering it to half-staff, prior to the 21-gun salute and the playing of Taps.
From Burwood, the Legion members moved on to present an 11 a.m. ceremony at St. John’s Cemetery, adjacent to St. Patrick’s Catholic Church at the corner of Carrolton Road and Highway 120. Then they made their way to the final service of the day, a noontime ceremony hosted at Farmington Memorial Park cemetery, along Escalon-Bellota Road.
Flags were placed all along Main Street in Escalon for the day as a show of respect; they also lined the walkways at Burwood and small American flags were placed on the graves of all veterans buried there as part of the Memorial Day observance.
