Memorial Day Rite Honors Soldiers From Civil War to Vietnam

It was an odd sight for a Memorial Day ceremony.

A squad of riflemen dressed in gray Confederate soldiers’ uniforms stepped beneath an American flag and fired three volleys as the sound of “Taps” echoed over Westlake Village.

Then they stood at attention at the grave of a Confederate veteran that was marked by a shiny new marble headstone dedicated Monday by state and federal officials.

It was a ceremony unforeseen by Gen. John. A. Logan, who initiated Memorial Day 120 years ago by asking for flowers for “the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion.”

That “late rebellion” was the Civil War. The Confederate Army had been the enemy of Logan’s Union Army during the War Between the States.

But Monday was a time for the mending of emotional wounds as deceased veterans of all American wars were honored by Conejo Valley residents.

State Controller Gray Davis told a crowd of 800 attending rites at Valley Oaks Memorial Park that some historians suspect that Memorial Day began when officials noticed Confederate women honoring the dead of both sides after the Battle of Shiloh.

“Those actions transcended the acts of friend and foe and began healing the nation,” Davis said. “Now, a process is under way for Vietnam veterans, too.”

Westlake Village’s lone Confederate Army veteran was Pvt. Bryant Hays, a Georgia infantryman captured by the Union Army at the Civil War’s end. Hays was released after swearing allegiance to the United States. He moved to California in 1887, where he lived in the Conejo Valley until his death in 1910.

Hays was buried in the Russell Ranch cemetery in what is now Westlake Village. His were among the remains of 29 people relocated to the Valley Oaks cemetery in 1965 when an industrial park was built.

His grave was unmarked until the late Thousand Oaks historian Patricia Allen traced Hays’ background. The local Veterans of Foreign Wars post arranged through Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) to have a grave marker provided by the Veterans Administration.

The use of the mock squad of Confederate solders produced some grumbles before Monday’s ceremony. But VFW Conejo Valley Post Cmdr. Forrest Frields compared Confederate veterans with Vietnam veterans, who also lost an unpopular war.

Vietnam returnees who walked among graves decorated with 650 tiny American flags appreciated the attention.

“I was punched in the face when I got home from Vietnam,” said former Army medic Stephen Anderson, 39, of Thousand Oaks.

The day had special sadness for others whose agony didn’t end when the Vietnam war finally did.

Linda Wagenmakers, of Agoura Hills, placed flowers on the grave of husband Aarno Steven Wagenmaker. He died two years ago from the effects of Agent Orange exposure that she said he received as a Marine in Vietnam from 1966 to 1968.

“He and I used to come to the Memorial Day service here every year,” Wagenmakers said. “Now, I come to his grave every day.”