Veterans Day 2021

9/11 Heroes Honored In Veterans Day 2021 Video Program

Speakers include
Navy Officer Who Survived Pentagon Attack;
SDFD Fire Chief Who Led Search/Rescue Team at Twin Towers

(Nov. 5, 2021) If then-Navy Lt. Christopher Ludmer of San Diego had been in his usual office at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, he would have been in the exact spot where American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the west wall of the Pentagon.

Assistant Fire Chief John Wood led a San Diego Fire Department Fire-Rescue Team that spent two weeks on the Twin Towers rubble pile helping local first responders in …

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WWII Veterans Interred

An Army honor guard conducts a flag-folding ceremony during the committal service for former Army Lt. George Key.

Two Notable WWII Veterans Now at Rest at Miramar National Cemetery

Fought in Key Battles in the Pacific and in Europe

(Sept. 27, 2021) Two World War II veterans with remarkable backgrounds—a Marine officer who fought on Iwo Jima, and an Army officer with an historic ancestor—were buried in September at Miramar National Cemetery, and now lie at rest among their fellow veterans.

Retired Marine Colonel Dave E. Severance, 102, was buried at Miramar on Sept. 15. As a young captain, he …

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POW Monument Anniversary

Ex-POWs, from left, Jim Kell, Tom Crosby, and Larry Strickland. USS Pueblo crewmen Kell and Strickland were held in North Korea after their ship was captured. Crosby was eight years old when he and his family were interned in a Philippines prison camp by the Japanese.

American Ex-POWs Remember the Hardships of Captivity  

10th Anniversary of POW Monument at Miramar National Cemetery

(Sept. 9, 2021) It was only a small group of ex-prisoners of war who were left to attend the 10th anniversary of the POW monument at Miramar National Cemetery. The black POW flag, flying above the statue of …

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Bob Baker Obituary

Bob Baker, San Diego Businessman, Veteran, Patriot, and Philanthropist Died Sept. 5

(Sept. 8, 2021) Bob Baker, well-known San Diego businessman, veteran, patriot and philanthropist—and major benefactor of the Support Foundation—died Sunday at his home in Rancho Santa Fe. He would have been 90 years old on October 1.

An Army veteran of the Korean War, Baker fought with the 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division at the crucial Battle of Outpost Harry in June 1953. The outpost was a strategic position on a tiny hilltop on the direct route to the South Korean capital of Seoul, some 60 miles …

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POW Statue

“The Liberation Moment” by Richard Becker

American Ex-POWS to Mark 10th Anniversary of POW Statue

‘The Liberation Moment’ is a major feature of Miramar National Cemetery

(09/03/2021) The American Ex-Prisoners of War (AXPOW), San Diego Chapter 1, will honor America’s ex-prisoners of war and commemorate the tenth anniversary of the POW statue entitled “The Liberation Moment” during a ceremony set for 11:30 a.m., Thursday, 9 September 2021, at Miramar National Cemetery. 

The event is open to the public. Guests attending will be required to wear a mask in outdoor shared spaces when physical distancing cannot be maintained for unvaccinated individuals, …

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UDT/SEAL Monument

Captain (SEAL) Todd Perry said the monument “is primarily dedicated to our active duty teammates killed in action or training.”

UDT/SEAL Monument Dedicated at Miramar National Cemetery

(Click here for KFMB, Ch. 8, report by Reporter Steve Fiorina.)

(27 August 2021) Navy Special Operations veterans and guests gathered at Miramar National Cemetery, today, to dedicate a first-in-the nation monument to the men and women who sacrificed their lives in service to their country as members of UDT/SEAL teams and support units.

Featured speaker Captain (SEAL) Todd Perry, commanding officer of the Center for SEAL and Special Warfare Combatant Craft Crew …

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Veterans Tribute Tower & Carillon Newest Memorial Dedicated at Miramar National Cemetery

Veterans Tribute Tower & Carillon
Newest Memorial Dedicated at
Miramar National Cemetery

Links

Granite Benches Installed at Cemetery’s Veterans Tribute Tower & Carillon Site Bob Baker Web Bio Outpost Harry Tower Plaque Text Music and Chimes Video of Tower being constructed [wpplightbox id=17]

Some 200 veterans, active duty military, and civilians gathered, Nov. 11, 2016 for a special ceremony to dedicate a Veterans Tribute Tower & Carillon, the newest addition to a growing collection of memorials at Miramar National Cemetery.

Two years in the planning, the 30-foot-tall bell tower now stands on a knoll on the north side of the …

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Army Maj. Gen. Joseph M. Martin emphasized the sacrifices made by the families of the men and women serving in the armed forces. They are affected by every duty assignment and every deployment, he said.

Memorial Service Speaker: Bear in Mind the Sacrifices of Military Families

Memorial Service Speaker:
Bear in Mind the Sacrifices of Military Families

On a day when some 600 San Diegans gathered at Miramar National Cemetery to reflect on the men and women who have served our country, Maj. Gen. Joseph M. Martin asked those assembled also to bear in mind the sacrifices made by members of their families.

“In every war in our history, it is often those left behind who struggle to understand the loss of their loved ones,” said Martin, commanding General of the Army’s National Training Center and Fort Irwin, Calif., and featured speaker during the fifth annual …

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Improvements Planned at Miramar and Fort Rosecrans National Cemeteries, Director Rex Kern Says

Visitors to Miramar National Cemetery over the next several years can expect to see further development of the grounds and facilities, Director Rex Kern told a group who gathered at the cemetery April 6, 2016, for an Open House.  Improvements also are planned at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.

Bradley Phillips, executive director, Memorial Service Network V, of the National Cemetery Administration (NCA), introduced Kern.  He said Kern had been selected for the San Diego directorship based on his excellent work as director at Port Hudson National Cemetery in Louisiana, and at Los Angeles National Cemetery.

Kern said workers soon will …

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Growth spurt at S.D. national cemetery (San Diego Union Tribune)

Rex Kern was recently named director of the Miramar and Fort Rosecrans national cemeteries. — K.C. Alfred

Just six years after opening, Miramar National Cemetery is now the seventh-busiest veterans cemetery in the United States, prompting an upgrade of the director’s position that might mean more stability in what’s been a revolving-door job.

New Director Rex Kern said the region’s second veterans cemetery has experienced growing pains, leading to a less-than-polished look.

The 56-year-old Navy veteran said his goal is to smooth out the bumps to shore up the “national shrine” status that is the yardstick for all U.S. Department …

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VA Names Navy Veteran Rex Kern As New Director of Fort Rosecrans, Miramar National Cemeteries

March 28, 2016
The Department of Veterans Affairs has named Rex Kern, a U.S. Navy veteran, as the new director of the Fort Rosecrans and Miramar National Cemeteries.  Kern took up his new post on March 7, 2016.  He succeeds Douglas Ledbetter, who was appointed director of Dayton National Cemetery in Dayton, Ohio.

Kern, 56, previously was director of the Los Angeles National Cemetery, where he had served since August 2014.  That cemetery is now closed to first-time burials.  In San Diego, he will lead a staff of 23, and will be responsible for burial, maintenance, and administrative operations of …

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How to Find Help When You Need Information About Veterans’ Burial Benefits

Many veterans don’t know they have VA burial benefits, says Rex Kern, the new director of Fort Rosecrans and Miramar National Cemeteries in San Diego.  Neither do many veterans’ families.

But help is only a phone call away, he says.  Staff members at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery (619-553-2084) or at Miramar National Cemetery (858-658-7360) can provide assistance.  Families can schedule the burial of their veteran by calling the VA scheduling office at 800-535-1117.  The office is open seven days a week, from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Central Standard Time.

Help also is available at the National Cemetery Administration (NCA) …

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Veterans Tribute Tower and Carillon Planned at San Diego’s Miramar National Cemetery

The Miramar National Cemetery Support Foundation has filed a request with the VA’s National Cemetery Administration (NCA) to construct a memorial to America’s veterans. The planned 30-foot tall Veterans Tribute Tower and Carillon will stand on a knoll on the north side of Miramar National Cemetery.

A prominent San Diego-area veteran has made a major contribution toward construction of the Veterans Tribute Tower, which will be unlike any other at a VA-operated cemetery. The Foundation is asking the public’s help to fund the Veterans Tribute Tower’s foundation and memorial plaza, and to finance the perpetual maintenance fund required by the …

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Sgt. Charles Schroeter, Medal of Honor Buried at Miramar National Cemetery After Nearly a Century ‘Lost to History’

“On behalf of a grateful nation, may you find this new place of rest to be the home of honor you rightfully deserve.”

Sgt. Charles Schroeter’s grave is located in Section 3, Grave 1052 at Miramar National Cemetery.

Please click here for a narrative of the life and military service of Sgt. Charles Schroeter.

To read the full text of Brig. Gen. Joseph Martin’s remarks, please click here.

With those words, Brig. Gen. Joseph M. Martin, commanding general of the Army National Training Center and Fort Irwin, Calif., brought to a conclusion the unlikely saga of a Congressional Medal of …

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Civil War soldier to be buried, finally

Ashes of Medal of Honor recipient will be moved to Miramar Natl Cemetery

As a Union Army cavalryman, Pvt. Charles Schroeter went to battle in a heavy blue wool jacket with gold braid.

His weapons were a saber, a short rifle and — when the situation turned desperate — a revolver.

At least a dozen Civil War enthusiasts will be dressed in the same fashion when Schroeter is laid to rest by the Army at Miramar National Cemetery on Thursday — nearly a century after he died and his ashes were left to languish in an unmarked San Diego crypt.…

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