INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Thousands are expected to once again pay tribute to the memories of fallen heroes at Memorial Day Ceremonies scheduled Monday, May 28 at Veterans Memorial Island Sanctuary in Vero Beach and Riverview Park in Sebastian. Observances will begin at 9 a.m. in Vero Beach and at 11 a.m. in Sebastian so that residents may attend both ceremonies.
This year’s guest speaker at the Vero Beach ceremony will be Kurt Wallach, who trained locally as a Navy SEAL (Sea, Air and Land Special Forces), and served in the Navy during World War II from 1944 to 1946 in Panama and the Pacific.
Other participants will include color guards from local veterans organizations, members of the Vero Beach Police Department, the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office and Indian River County Fire Rescue, bagpiper Michael Hyde, a U.S. Merchant Marine veteran, and the Vero Beach High School band.
Those needing assistance may be dropped off at the bridge entrance to Memorial Island in Vero Beach, where the Veterans Council will have golf cart transportation onto the Island.
All branches of service are represented on the tranquil sanctuary, which exists as a tribute from the community to honor all veterans, especially those who served in Indian River County. It will be the first opportunity for many to see the new Vietnam Veterans Memorial, dedicated this spring to armed forces members who served from 1961 to 1975.
Ceremonies in Sebastian begin at 11 a.m., and will include a dedication of the new Four Chaplains’ Memorial, honoring the four clergymen who gave up their own life vests so that others may live, linking arms and perishing in the ocean along with 688 others after the sinking of the Dorchester in World War II. Expected to attend is Vero Beach resident Ernie Heaton, one of only 214 who survived the attack.
The lighting of an eternal flame, thought by Four Chaplains’ Memorial Foundation board member Larry Wapnick to be only the second in the nation, will also be part of the observation ceremony.
Additionally, individuals may purchase bricks in memory of U. S. Military veterans which will eventually line the walkway linking the current Sebastian Veterans Memorial to the Four Chaplains’ Memorial. Memorial bricks lining a second walkway from the Riverview Park entrance to the Veterans Memorial are available for people to memorialize other individuals.