Memorial Day 2008

The sights and sounds from Memorial Day ceremonies around the county.
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Photos by Jason Redmond / Star staff Retired Chief Warrant Officer 4 Carl Wade, U.S. Navy, left, is thanked by Dorothy M. O'Brien-Ruff and her son Michael Patrick O'Brien, both of Oxnard, after a military honors memorial service at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park in Ventura on Sunday afternoon.

Members of the 1st Memorial Honors Detail are Air Force veteran Spc. 4th Class Bob Davison, left, retired Navy Maj. Jeff Erskine, Air Force veteran Sgt. Jerry Watkins, Navy veteran Gunner's Mate 3rd Class Bruce Taylor, Marine veteran Cpl. Mike Parrent, retired Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Mike WySocki, and Air Force veteran 1st Sgt. Bill Roderick.

As rifle fire cracked in the air in a military salute Sunday afternoon, Dorothy M. O'Brien-Ruff held the rosary beads her late husband used to comfort himself during more than two years in a German prisoner of war camp.

O'Brien-Ruff's son, Michael Patrick O'Brien, sat next to her holding the journal his father kept before he was liberated by Russians late in 1945. Its weathered, brown cover was fashioned from a prisoner's shirt.

Walter Joseph O'Brien served as an Army medic in World War II. He and 12 other veterans were given military honors in a memorial service at a Ventura cemetery decorated with several hundred flags, all once draped over caskets in military funerals.

The service was held for veterans who didn't receive military honors when they died. In some cases, family members thought the honors were reserved only for people killed in action. In other cases, flags were draped over caskets but other rituals were omitted.

Walter O'Brien told his family he didn't want any special arrangements or attention when he died. The Oxnard man died in 1982 of a massive heart attack and stroke at the age of 62.

"He was my first love and my first and only friend for many, many years," said Dorothy O'Brien-Ruff, who is 82. She brought a framed picture of her husband to Sunday's service.

"I think he deserves it," she said of the memorial. "He put his life on the line for the country."

As sun and clouds dueled, about 25 family members sat in Ivy Lawn Memorial Park in a sea of seats already set up for today's Memorial Day service. A combat helmet sat atop a World War I rifle, its fixed bayonet stuck into the earth as part of a memorial for fallen soldiers. A soldier's identification tag dangled from the weapon. Empty combat boots symbolized the final march of the final battle.

There were prayers and military salutes and a rendition of "Amazing Grace" by a bagpiper who stood under a tree, well behind a line of veterans in uniform. A 16-year-old girl from Santa Paula who volunteers her time as a bugler played taps. Family members were given three spent bullet cartridges, symbols of the three rifle volleys fired in honor of the veterans.

The service was conducted by 1st Memorial Honors Detail, which provides military honors at funeral services in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. Most of the about one dozen members are veterans who volunteer their time.

"Every one of us feels veterans should not have their funerals without military honors," said Carl Wade, a retired Navy chief warrant officer from Ventura and the leader of the detail. "They were promised it and the family needs the closure."

A Marine lance corporal just returned from Iraq came in uniform to honor his grandpa, who served in the Navy.

Ray Fink, 80, of Casitas Springs, sat in the first row remembering his brothers, Paul and Buddy Fink. Paul was a Navy crew chief who was in World War II. Buddy was an Army sergeant and a radio operator who served in the same war.

Ray came to the service in his Sunday clothes, a gray suit and a natty fedora. He chatted about his own brothers and his own service as a Navy chaplain. The words gave way to emotion when he was asked why the memorial service was important. "They're my brothers," he said in a voice choked by tears. "That's all I can say."

The veterans honored were: Robert John Feather, boatswain's mate first class, Navy; Irwin Feinberg, corporal, Army; Paul B. Fink, crew chief, Navy; Winfred M. "Buddy" Fink, sergeant, Army; Ernest Gutierrez, private first class, Army; Raymond E. Harrison, corporal, Army; Eugene G. Morales, lance corporal, Marines; Walter Joseph O'Brien, sergeant first class, medical detachment, Army; Thaddeus Joseph Skupien, master chief, Navy; Garton E. Taylor, private first class, Army; Daniel T. Wilson Sr., sergeant, Army; Daniel T. Wilson Jr., specialist four, Army; and Francis M. Wilson, first lieutenant, Army.