Veterans Gather to See Fletcher Parkway Named in Memory of Fallen

Eighty people gathered Friday morning at Parkway Middle School to witness a solemn ceremony—the honorary naming of the La Mesa stretch of Fletcher Parkway as Veterans Memorial Parkway.

John “Mac” McLaughlin wished it were more.

McLaughlin, a retired rear admiral and now president and CEO of the USS Midway Museum on Harbor Drive, said the event deserved a packed Qualcomm Stadium, not a nearly deserted Junior Seau football field.

“And yet where are they?” he said of the public. “They’re enjoying their lives—thanks to what you have done in yours, and what those young men and women continue to do.”

Culminating a series of events—including City Council recognition of veterans from different eras—Friday’s 45-minute ceremony saluted all services (and even police and fire forces), with the Paragon jazz band playing military anthems.

Members of the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines proudly stood as they heard their music.

Aubrey King—the 23-year-old daughter of event champion Councilman Dave Allan, sang the national anthem, and Clayton Becker, a 72-year-old Navy veteran, played taps on his trumpet to bookend the event under sunny skies with a light breeze.

Suart Hedley, president of the San Diego chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, narrated the two-bell ceremony in front of council members Allan, Ruth Sterling, Ernie Ewin and Mark Arapostathis. (Mayor Madrid was at a National League of Cities event in Kansas City, MO.)

La Mesa-Spring Valley schools Supertintendent Brian Marshall sat up front with Parkway Middle School Principal Mary Beason, while representatives of Rep. Duncan D. Hunter and Assemblyman Brian Jones sat on the concrete bleachers.

The three signs denoting Veterans Memorial Parkway were installed in advance of Memorial Day, so when a blue sheet was removed during Friday’s event, it was no surprise. Revealed was a portable mockup of the sign—complete with crests of the services and a the MIA-POW logo.

Earlier, the firefighters union local 4759 served a free pancake breakfast at La Mesita Park to early arrivals, with Station 11 Engineer Steve Harris saying: “Just giving back to the community and the veterans.”

Harris gave credit to Lee Secciani for cooking the bulk of the pancakes.  Fifteen local firefighters helped with the event that lasted over an hour.

Anthony Carneiro provided his Advanced Shuttle vans to ferry older veterans to and from the park and the other side of the school grounds off Dallas Street in north La Mesa.

At the sidewalk leading to Parkway Middle School’s artificial turf field, eight members of the Grossmont High School Navy Junior ROTC greeted veterans and other dignitaries. Later, they’d take the field for a drill demonstration, with and without spinning rifles.

Their instructor, Navy Capt. Clark Owsley, wore dress whites.