Paying tribute to fallen

Members of American Legion Post 222 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5868 will muster at 7:30 a.m. Monday to put up tiny American flags around town and then head for Heisler Park to set up seating for the audience that will attend the 25th annual Memorial Day Program at Monument Point.

“Basically, we honor and pay tribute to past and present service personnel,” VFW Commander Bill Kremer said.

Ceremonies officially begin at 11 a.m. — 1100 hours in military speak. Orange County Fifth District Sup. Patricia Bates will be the keynote speaker.

Legionnaire Richard Moore will introduce Legion Commander Dave Connell and Kremer, who will welcome the audience. The general order, which lowers the flag to half-staff on Memorial Day until noon, will be read by Dean Peterson, like Kremer, a member of the Legion and the VFW.

Madeleine Visca will sing “The Star Spangled Banner,” followed by the Pledge of Allegiance, led by Boy Scout Troop 35. Frank Visca will give the invocation and the benediction near the end of the ceremonies. Mayor Kelly Boyd will represent the city.

The most poignant part of the annual ceremony is always the roll call of veterans who have died in the previous year, now stationed at the “Post Everlasting.” Floral tributes from community groups will be presented.

Ceremonies will conclude with the playing of “Taps” and raising the flag to full mast.

“Every year, we seem to draw more and more people to the ceremonies,” Kremer said. “Because the area at Monument Point is so restricted and the program lasts an hour, we encourage people to come at least 20 minutes early if they want to be seated.

“Hopefully, the more physically able will defer to them.”

It is a day to be thoughtful.

Members of the Exchange Club will be up and about Memorial Day even earlier than the veterans.

The Memorial Day Breakfast in Heisler Park will be served from 7 a.m., but set-up begins on Cliff Drive at the foot of Myrtle Street at 5:30 a.m.

A plate of pancakes, sausages and a drink will cost $5, but that includes watching Laguna Beach Firefighters flipping flapjacks, entertainment and free goodies distributed by a phalanx of fairies — all under the command of “Generalissimo” Sande St. John.

The event is sponsored by the White House restaurant, which provides the pancake mix, and Las Brisas, which donates the rest of the menu.

Last year’s breakfast was canceled because renovations to the park were underway, so locals are expected to show up in droves.

And what would Memorial Day be without a band concert? It has become a tradition in less time than it takes for some construction projects in Laguna Beach to be approved and completed.

“The first Laguna Beach Concert Band concert on Memorial Day was performed at Main Beach seven years ago,” said founder Carol Reynolds. “And there were only eight people in the band.”

Not that many more stopped to listen, but times have changed. The band now has 60 members and draws a large audience to the concerts, such as the recent standing room-only performance at Laguna Beach High School.

A 12:30 p.m. start time will allow people time to stroll down from the veteran’s ceremonies to the Cobblestone Area of Main Beach, where the band will perform a program of patriotic music, interspersed with popular standards and Dixieland Jazz by the band’s Third Street Strutters, led by local Matt Wood.