Hundreds gather for Memorial Day tribute to fallen veterans at Santa Rosa Memorial Park

Monday morning's breeze cleared the fog and sent more than 1,000 American flags waving as a vivid backdrop to the annual Memorial Day ceremony at Santa Rosa Memorial Park honoring fallen U.S. veterans.

About 400 people attended the event, which for nearly 50 years has been a gathering to remember those who served and didn't make it home and a reunion of sorts for veterans.

“It's just remembrance,” said Marilyn Payne, who was there to think about veterans lost but also her husband - George Payne, a local orthodontist and veteran of Korea who died about a decade ago. “Every Memorial Day and Veterans Day, I bring a flower to put near his grave.”

Music, wreaths, speeches, prayers and a P-51 flyover with the pilot dipping the wings punctuated the 90-minute ceremony.

U.S. Marine Bruce Voorhees, 77, saluted at various times throughout, nodding his head in agreement with speakers who advocated never forgetting those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. “Today I suit up and show up,” Voorhees said, noting he held close the memories of his older brother and brother-in-law, both Marine brethren.

The day's main speaker was U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Dan Nevins, who lost part of both legs to a bomb blast while serving in Iraq.

Nevins spoke of Memorial Day's gravity, regarding the losses, the gratitude he has for people who remember and come to such gatherings and the gratefulness he feels to be an American.

“It's a day to celebrate the people who gave everything. Everything,” Nevins said.

The Santa Rosa cemetery has been the site of the Memorial Day gathering for 48 years. The ceremony is known for its show of small flags at the graves of veterans and large flags lining the property avenues.

The event started with a flag raising and this one had special meaning to the family of Darrel Shumard of Sebastopol. The 97-year-old World War II fighter-bomber pilot and prisoner of war died this spring. Able to live on his own and active until the end, just a few weeks before he died he took off from Sonoma County's airport to pilot a Cessna.

“He never thought he was a hero,” said his granddaughter Michelle Grady of Rohnert Park, who attended the ceremony with other family members. A photo and information board of her grandfather was on display.

“He was here every year,” Grady said. “My heart felt heavy this morning. It's more real being here without him for the first time.”

After raising the American flag - a flag that belonged to Shumard - it was lowered to half-staff, marking his death.

You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 707-521-5412 or randi.rossmann@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @rossmannreport.