Charles Wood and Daniel Hamilton in front of Lynwood City Hall | Jiawei Wang
Veterans and family members joined the City of Lynwood officials to celebrate Veterans Day in front of the Lynwood City Hall on Nov 11.
The event started with flag salute. The veterans wore formal military attire as they stood in front of the city hall and sang the national anthem in overcast weather.
Veteran Charles Wood talks about his service in Vietnam in an audio slideshow below.
Later, family members and veterans shared their experiences of military service. Most of the veterans had been involved in U.S. operations in Iraq, the Persian Gulf or Afghanistan.
Charles Wood, the master of ceremonies, spent 20 years in the U.S. Navy and retired in 1979. He has hosted the event for the last past 10 years.
“I’m a big supporter of the event, and I look forward to it every year,” Wood said.
Daniel Hamilton, another veteran who spoke in the ceremony, said he spent two years in Germany and two years in Vietnam and came back to the states in 1960.
“The two years of duty in Germany was excellent, a lot of fun, and I volunteered for Vietnam. It made a better person out of me, I think, and I don’t have any regrets,” said Hamilton. “And I do plan on taking a trip with a couple other veterans. I want to go back to Vietnam. I want to see how it has changed, and I think that will put everything to rest.”
Mayor Aide Castro with her daughter, with son’s photo on the left |Jiawei Wang
The mayor of Lynwood, Aide Castro, said that the City of Lynwood celebrates and honors veterans every year to make sure that the veterans feel that they are appreciated and recognized in the community.
Castro said her son is also in the naval reserve officer-training program at the University of Arizona.
“One of my brothers served in the Navy, and the other brother and one sister are in the Marines, and have other nephews who served in the Marines, Navy and Army,” Castro said. “So serving the military is definitely in our blood.”
Councilmember, Jose Luis Solache, who is major-elect of Lynwood, said the city is planning a kick-start an event for soon-to-be veterans. And then he will begin to plan for next year’s Veterans Day ceremony.
Like Intersections on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and sign up for the Newsletter to stay in the loop on news and views from South L.A.
Speak Your Mind