EVERETT—Residents and community leaders gathered at Pacific Rim Plaza in the Port of Everett on Monday for its annual Memorial Day Remembrance Ceremony with keynote speaker Captain Stacy Wuthier, Commanding Officer of Naval Station Everett.
“Some of them didn’t volunteer or were asked to leave their homes to fight in distant battlegrounds,” Captain Wuthier said in her Memorial Address. “They didn’t go to war because they loved fighting. They were ordinary people who were called to be part of something bigger than themselves and responded in extraordinary ways. They stepped up to answer because they wanted to protect our freedom and our way of life.”
Captain Wuthier thanked the City of Everett and the Greater Puget Sound for supporting and welcoming U.S. service members and their families. Currently, 1.4 million men and women serve in the nation’s military, ready to defend liberty and “make the ultimate sacrifice” of which 60,000 are stationed in Washington state.
Emulating the values of courage, selflessness, and dedication by those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, Captain Wuthier added, is a way to honor the memories of the fallen through action.
“As we honor the memory of our fallen heroes, let us also recognize the personal connections many of us have to this day,” Captain Wuthier said. “Whether it is a family member, a friend, a comrade, the loss of each service member leaves a void that can never be filled. Their legacy, however, lives on in our hearts, and the principles that they fought to protect.”
Captain Wuthier recently assumed command of Naval Station Everett on April 4, 2024, having relieved Captain Joshua Menzel, who had served as its Commanding Officer since July 2021. Her decorations include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy & Marine Corps Commendation Medal (four awards), the Navy & Marine Corps Achievement Medal (two awards) and multiple unit commendations.
Mayor Cassie Franklin delivered the Memorial Day proclamation for the City of Everett.
“On Memorial Day, it is important to cherish the memories of our friends and family members who have died and to remember the contribution they made to improve our lives,” Mayor Franklin read from the proclamation.
“And whereas the veterans who fought and died for our country helped preserved the freedom and rights guaranteed to all people under the U.S. Constitution.
“And Memorial Day provides us with the opportunity to reflect and honor the past to renew and pass on our platform and pay tribute to those who died in service to our country.
“Now there I, Cassie Franklin do hereby proclaim May 27, 2024, as Memorial Day in the City of Everett and I encourage all people in our city to join me in honoring those who have died for this country.”
One of the earliest Memorial Day ceremonies is believed to have been held by freed Black Americans on May 1, 1865, in Charleston, South Carolina, less than a month after the American Civil War, with a parade to honor fallen Union soldiers.
Waterloo, New York, first celebrated Memorial Day as a community event on May 5, 1866, and the first national commemoration of Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day, was held in Arlington National Cemetery on May 30, 1868. For over 100 years, Memorial Day was recognized on May 30, but since 1971 it is now observed on the last Monday in May.
During World War I, all military service members who lost their lives in any American war, not only the Civil War were included. Monday’s ceremony honored the nearly 1.2 million military personnel who died serving in all branches of the U.S. military since the Revolutionary War.
Representative Brandy Donaghy (D-Snohomish), a U.S. Navy veteran who supervised aviation ammunition on vessels, offered a moment of silence that was followed by the playing of Amazing Grace on bag pipe by Cascadia Pipers.
Lieutenant Colonel Dan Matthews, a retired United States Air Force Command Pilot, concluded the ceremony with the following tribute to fallen service members:
“All gave some, some gave all, so that we might live today, in freedom. This then is your tribute, our own memorial, to you and your compelling sacrifice.
“We will dream; we will live and love; and laugh and cry; we will give and forgive; we will share and care – all those things that you so honorably gave up, so that we, and generations to follow – your living legacy – might live in freedom and dignity.
“We thank you, today and always. We will never forget.”
Everett Port Commissioner President Tom Stiger thanked the sponsors for the event and Mayor Franklin for her proclamation.
Notable attendees include Representative Julio Cortes (D-Everett); Port of Everett Commissioners David Simpson and Glen Bachman, Everett City Council President Ben Zarlingo; Everett City Councilmembers Don Schwab, Paula Rhyne, and Mary Fosse; Mukilteo City Councilman Louis Harris; Everett Police Deputy Chief Jeff Hendrickson; Everett Fire Chief David DeMarco; and Mountlake Terrace City Councilman and Lynnwood Times Person of the Year, Steve Woodard.
Pacific Rim Plaza was converted from its tribute to the Port’s century-long ties to international trade, to this Memorial Day, honoring the brave men and women who died in war. The plaza includes interpretive signage with information on each trading county and a lighted globe feature illuminating the grounds in the night sky that depicts trade routes to and from the Port’s trading partners.
Pacific Rim Plaza is a new public gathering space at the Port of Everett representing the central hub of Fisherman’s Harbor. It offers picturesque views of the Marina, a new 36-jet splash fountain, a timber-decked over-water viewing platform, benches, and access to the boardwalk for dining and recreation.
@EverettCity Memorial Day Ceremony at Pacific Rim Plaza in the @PortofEverett, honoring the brave men and women who died in war.
The ceremony included the singing of the National Anthem, a reading of a Memorial Day Proclamation by Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin, remarks by Port… pic.twitter.com/YQ7H1o37Zj
— Lynnwood Times (@LynnwoodTimes) May 27, 2024
One Response
It was a lovely ceremony! Thank you to all who organized and participated in it.