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COMMUNITY SHARES IN THE AMERICAN SPIRIT OF PIERRE CLAEYSSENS ANNUAL VETERANS DAY AT SANTA BARBARA CEMETERY

By Bonnie Carroll

Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1649 and Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation joined forces for  the 2024 Santa Barbara Community Veterans Day Ceremony at the Santa Barbara Cemetery, 901 Channel Drive.

Attendees arrived early before 11:00 a.m. to enjoy presentations and performances by the UCSB Color Guard, Gold Coast Pipe & Drum Band, David Gonzales and the Santa Barbara Choral Society, and The Prime Time Band. The ceremony concluded with a flyover by The Condor Squadron.

Featured keynote speaker was US Army veteran Brooks Firestone, former County Supervisor, State Assemblyman, and local businessman. Also, on the speakers panel was  Lieutenant Colonel Tim Downing, Department Chairman UC Santa Barbara Army ROTC Surfrider Battalion.

The cemetery’s driveway was decorated with dozens of American flags, along with flags marking the graves of fellow citizens who gave their lives in the service of their country. The ceremony took place near the main flagpole, with nearly 500 guests in attendance. The beloved National holiday, Veterans Day, celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans. It was originally known as Armistice Day in the U.S. and coincides with other holidays including Armistice Day and Remembrance Day which are celebrated in other countries that mark the anniversary of the end of World War I. This event honors the dedication, service and bravery of local men and women who served in the four branches of the U.S. armed forces. For more information, please go to: https://www.pcvf.org/veterans-day-ceremony

This is an event so many Santa Barbara residents look forward to and one that always brings the community together in a spirit of love and American pride. In attendance are many countless local veterans, city and state officials, police and sheriff’s and a huge crowd of families and friends of veterans. It is a day that I look forward to personally in remembering my own father who served as a US Marine through the entirety of the Pacific Campaign of WWII; a man who loved America and gave me an unstoppable spirit to protect the land I love.

The co-presenters of this year’s event was The VFW with Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation; The VFW was established to assist veterans. VFW’s mission is to foster camaraderie among United States veterans of overseas conflicts and to serve our veterans, the military and our communities and advocate on behalf of all veterans. The purposes of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States are fraternal, patriotic, historical, charitable, and educational; to preserve and strengthen comradeship among its members; to assist worthy comrades; to perpetuate the memory and history of our deceased, and to assist their surviving spouses and orphans; to maintain true allegiance to the Government of the United States of America, and fidelity to its institutions of American freedom, and to preserve and defend the United States from all her enemies.

The Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation is committed to honoring the men and women who have served in U.S. military efforts. PCVF does this by supporting veterans and active-duty members, and related partner organizations, in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties as well as preserving military history and legacy. The Foundation works to uphold Pierre Claeyssens’s vision that those who have served are “Never Forgotten.” PCVF is funded entirely by private donations. For more information, visit www.pcvf.org or call (805) 259-4394. 

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