Lubbock marking Memorial Day with services, Vietnam Marines reunion
Lubbockites will pause this Memorial Day weekend to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice to serve our country.
Several events and services are being hosted Sunday and Monday around Lubbock to mark Memorial Day, including a service Sunday evening at Second Baptist Church and ceremonies Monday morning at the City of Lubbock Cemetery and Resthaven Cemetery. The Hub City is also hosting a reunion of retired Marines who served during the Vietnam War, with the group spending the long Memorial Day weekend visiting the Silent Wings Museum, Lubbock's War Memorial in Henry Huneke Park and attending the service at Resthaven.
Second Baptist service
Lubbock area veterans advocacy groups including the VFW Military Order of the Purple Heart are partnering with Second Baptist Church to host the seventh annual Memorial Day Service at 6:30 p.m. Sunday at the church located at 6109 Chicago Ave.
"We will honor our fallen and their Gold Star families," Koch said. "We will remember them for their role in 'Keeping the Flag Waving.'"
At the conclusion of the service, organizers will conduct a roll call, with a reading of the names of the 13 service members killed in Afghanistan during the U.S. withdrawal from that country last August, plus calling out the name of Texas National Guardsman, Army Sgt. Bishop Evans, who was recently lost serving in the Rio Grande Valley where he tried to save two people crossing the Rio Grande, Koch said.
The names of the 13 service members killed in Afghanistan last August include:
Army SSgt. Ryan Knauss
Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Maxton Soviak
Marine Lance Corporal David Espinoza
Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee
Marine SSgt. Darin Hoover
Marine Cpl. Hunter Lopez
Marine Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum
Marine Lance Cpl. Dylan Merola
Marine Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui
Marine Cpl. Daegan Page
Marine Sgt. Johnny Pichardo
Marine Cpl. Humberto Sanchez
Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz
Memorial Day
On Monday, the Nancy Anderson Chapter of The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, in conjunction with the Historic City of Lubbock Cemetery, will host a Memorial Day Service at 10 a.m. The service will be held in the gazebo in front of the City of Lubbock Cemetery office at 2011 E. 31st Street (two blocks east of Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. on East 31st Street). Admission is free of charge. Guests are highly encouraged to bring lawn chairs and/or blankets as seating will be limited.
Retired Sgt. Carl H. Tepper, United States Air Force, will be the featured speaker. Tepper recently won the Republican party primary election for State House District 84.
South Plains Young Marines will place flags on gravesites with a Veterans Administration Memorial headstone or footstone. Ruby Moultrie from First United Methodist Church Levelland will sing The National Anthem and God Bless America. The Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office Honor Guard will present the nation’s colors and honor our veterans with a 21-gun salute followed by the playing of TAPS.
It is estimated that more than 2,000 veterans are buried at the Historic City of Lubbock Cemetery, according to the city. Everyone is encouraged to attend this service and place an American flag on the grave of a veteran.
Veterans reunion
"The Vietnam War was one of the most gruesome wars in the history of the world - from Agent Orange to unconventional warfare, from hostile Vietnamese jungles to an unwelcome greeting back home - the Vietnam War story must continue to be told," said Commander Benny Guerrero with Lubbock's VFW Post 2466
Guerrero, who is also a retired Marine, said Vietnam veteran Marines from 1st Platoon, 3rd Battalions, 7th Marines and 3rd Marine Division are scheduled to unite in Lubbock during the 2022 Memorial Day weekend to remember the sacrifice of their brothers who didn’t return.
For several years, he said, these Marines have been meeting throughout the country in order to share stories with their families and the community.
Lubbock is hosting these Marines as it’s done in two previous reunions, Guerrero said.
"When asked why the planning committee selected Lubbock as the location for their reunion, the coordinators stated that Lubbock is the most welcoming city; it honors the sacrifice of Veterans through their actions rather than their words," Guerrero said in a statement.
Lubbock is the home to the Lubbock War Memorial and Texas Tech’s Vietnam War Archives, which is the largest of its kind in the world. Lubbock recently erected the Monument of Courage, which honors the sacrifice of the region’s 12 Medal of Honor recipients, Purple Heart recipients and Gold Star Families who have lost a loved one in military service.
The reunion, which will run through June 2, will include a reception at MCM Elegante Hotel, a Memorial Day observance at Resthaven and a visit to Silent Wings - the former Lubbock airport where many service members from the area said goodbye to their families on their way to Vietnam.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Lubbock marking Memorial Day with services, Vietnam Marines reunion
