Calling the men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan the true heroes of the day, Navy Capt. Wanda Riddle paid tribute last Monday to the nearly 500 veterans buried at Pleasanton Memorial Gardens Cemetery.
In her remarks during special Memorial Day services, Riddle urged the public to support the troops who “are in harm’s way” as they seek to bring democratic governments and free societies to both countries. She also praised the more than 100 men and women from Pleasanton who are in the military and whose names are printed on yellow streamers along Main Street.
Riddle was the keynote speaker at an hour-long ceremony at the historic burial ground, which holds the graves of many of the early settlers of Pleasanton and the Valley. Gravestones of veterans buried there and in the adjacent St. Augustine Catholic Cemetery were decorated with American flags by members of Boy Scout Troops 941 and 998. VFW Post 6298 and American Legion Post 237 posted the national colors, followed by the national anthem sung by Susannah Meyer and Jill Horn, and an invocation by the Rev. Dan Danielson, pastor of the Catholic Community of Pleasanton.
Mayor Jennifer Hosterman, a featured speaker, talked about the significance of Memorial Day as a time to remember all those who have gone before, including the city’s forefathers buried at Memorial Gardens.
“We are looking at ways of preserving and restoring this historic cemetery so that it continues to be a special place in Pleasanton,” Hosterman said. “You can be sure that I will be very involved in that effort.”
Then the audience grew quiet as Joe Rose of the VFW led the reading of the Honor Roll of Silence–the names of the 476 Pleasanton veterans buried at the cemetery. That was followed by a 21-gun salute by a rifle firing squad from the U.S. Air Force R.O.T.C. at Berkeley and the playing of Taps by Boy Scouts David Crisotomo and Jack Atherton.
