Ceremonies set to honor, remember veterans

While Memorial Day is meant to honor the nation's fallen military heroes, Burbank's ceremony Monday will also recognize local sons and daughters who have made it home safely from their time in the service.

Four Burbank residents completed their tours of duty in the last year and will be recognized: Air Force Master Sgt. David Bigbee; Marine Cpl. Lindsey Davenport, Navy Fireman Steven Moss and Navy Chief Petty Officer Timothy Williams.

The ceremony, which takes place at 11 a.m. at the McCambridge Park War Memorial, includes familiar features. The civilian Condor Squadron will perform a flyover of the site, the Burbank Community Band will play patriotic music, and Boy Scouts will lay a rose at the foot of the memorial for each fallen soldier or Marine as the names of veterans are read from the plaque in the park. The plaque honors those who were lost in the first and second World Wars, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and those who have died in the Middle East conflicts after 9/11.

Two new elements include the recognition of those who recently returned and a spoken tribute to the American flag offered by longtime voice actor and Burbank resident Jimmy Weldon. His most famous role may have been his work as Yakky Doodle on the old Yogi Bear cartoons, but he is an experienced motivational speaker who has offered a speech about Old Glory many times before civic and veterans groups.

Glendale's Memorial Day observance will take place at 9:30 a.m. Monday at Broadway and Isabel Street, where 50 veterans will be added to the five marble walls unveiled in 1997. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) and Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich will be among those reading 50 the names aloud and offering remarks.

The 50 new names to be added Monday to the marble walls of the memorial in Glendale come from research done by Burbank resident Linda Mustion and former Glendale firefighter Don Biggs, both members of the Glendale Chamber of Commerce Patriotism Committee.

Mustion, an amateur genealogist, spent hours at the Southern California Genealogy Society library in Burbank, sifting through military records, old News-Press clippings and other documents. She also used Internet resources and made trips to Forest Lawn Memorial Park to confirm the names and Glendale ties of veterans who had not yet been recognized.

Biggs said confirming solid Glendale ties, one of the criteria for adding a name to the monument, can be difficult.