Memorial Day | Royal Canadian Legion, US Zone, Branch #25

San Francisco Bay Area Branch 25

The Royal Canadian Legion

Memorial Day Service

Greenlawn Memorial Park – Colma, California

Saturday, 27 May 2017 – 11::00 am

Under the direction of

President Fred Rutledge and Vice President Karen Freitas

At the conclusion of today’s service

there will be a hosted alfresco luncheon.

Branch Members, Guests and Arkansas Division Sea Cadets

are invited to enjoy.

Order of Service

Welcome – Wayne Padgett, Past President

Opening Remarks

Invocation – Margaret Krieger, Chaplain

Post Colors on the Flag Poles

National Anthems Presented

“O Canada!” – ENS Kelsey Freitas, USNSCC

“The Star- Spangled Banner” – Cadet Daniel Ordonez

“God Save the Queen” – Cadet Kirsten Freitas

The Parade Salutes and Color Guard Present Arms

“In Memoriam” – Margaret Krieger

A Two-Minute Silence is Observed

Reading – Margaret Krieger

The Act of Remembrance

“They shall grow not old, as we who are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.”

Response from all: “We will remember them.”

Placing of the Wreath

In Flander’s Field – Michael Barbour, Secretary/Treasurer

Reading – Margaret Krieger

Close and Response

Today we remember and pay our respects to those comrades
whose death we mourn, but whose spirit still lives.
May we strive to promote unity and the spirit of comradeship,
never forgetting the solemn obligation we have assumed as members
of the Royal Canadian Legion and remembering them.” May we ever pray,
Lord God of hosts be with us yet. Lest we forget

Response from all: “Lest we forget.”

“O God Our Help in Ages Past” – Cadet Alejandro Hernandez

End of Service

The flags are proud to decorate the graves
Of heroes; catching every breeze that blows,
They shout, significantly, truth that saves
A world almost accustomed to it woes.
They speak of boys with blood red as the rose,
Who sacrificed young lives and happy dreams
To learn a mystery nobody knows…
To fly beyond familiar hills and streams.

The rose is proud to bloom upon the beds
Of soldiers; every flower tries to press
Toward sweet perfection. Lilies lift white heads
In hallowed ground, and spill their loveliness
Upon the sleeping heroes. We confess
To obligations scarcely felt before.
Shall we, the living, feel our sorrow less
If we make peace our goal, and rule out war?

In Flanders Fields
by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae

In Flanders Fields, the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard among the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.

O Canada!

O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide, O Canada!
We stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land
glorious and free!
O Canada! We stand on guard for thee.
O Canada! We stand on guard for thee.

The Star-Spangled Banner

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
what so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars
through the perilous fight, o’er the ramparts we watched,
were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say, does that Star – Spangled Banner yet wave –
O’er the land of the free
and the home of the brave.

God Save the Queen

God save our gracious Queen
Long live our noble Queen
God save our Queen!
Send her victorious, Happy and Glorious,
Long to reign over us;
God save the Queen!

* * *

Color Guard, Musicians and Grounds Preparation courtesy of
The United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps Arkansas Division
under the direction of
ENS Gabriel Mikulich, Commanding Officer
and ENS Vivian McBride, Executive Officer