On Monday, May 30th, 2011, Evergreen Washelli hosted our Annual Memorial Day Commemorative Service. Thank you to all who joined us in honoring America’s fallen and saluting the flags on our “Avenue of Colors”.
Our keynote speaker this year was COL Gustafson. There were also performances by soloist Maria Kesovija, as well as the Seattle Pacific University Symphonic Wind Ensemble and Drum Corps. The concert began at 1:30pm and the ceremony commenced at 2:00pm. Following the Memorial Day Commemorative Service, we hosted a guided tour of the Veterans Memorial Cemetery and the remarkable lives of the Medal of Honor recipients in our care. Our guide this year was David Bloch, son of the Medal of Honor recipient Orville Emil Bloch. We were extremely honored and excited to have him as our tour guide.
David guided us through the history of the Veterans Memorial Cemetery, as well as the stories of Private William C. Horton,Captain Vesa Alakulppi, PFC Lewis Albanese, PFC William Kenzo Nakamura, 2nd LT Robert Ronald Leisy, Coxswain Harry Delmar Fadden, and of course Colonel Orville Emil Bloch. Please join us on July 16th at 11:00am for our Medal of Honor Tribute Ceremony.
Below are photographs from the 2011 ceremony, flag placement and also the Medal of Honor Tour. We were fortunate enough to connect with Sharon Kircher Alakulppi, wife of Silver Star recipient Vesa Juhani Alakulppi, by chance on Memorial Day. She spoke to the Medal of Honor tour group, and we cannot thank her enough for her time and her stories.
