Memorial Day ceremony in Modesto honors those who laid down their lives in service of USA

In the first commemoration of Memorial Day on Monday in Modesto, members of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3199 and American Legion Post 74 carried the colors, fired a 21-volley salute, played taps and watched flowers be tossed into the Tuolumne River from the Seventh Street bridge.

“The flowers are significant in the fact that ladies years back didn’t have anything but flowers, and so they would pick these flowers because they would float ... out to sea and supposedly that would protect them (members of the armed forces), bring them home safely, or those that didn’t make it, that they would have some honor in that respect,” said Bill Shanahan, a member of American Legion Post 74.”

Of the decades-old ceremony on the bridge, Air Force veteran Shanahan said, “It’s quite an honor for us to do it every year.”

Shanahan served eight years in the Air Force. “I worked on a nuclear missile that hung underneath the wing of a B-52. ... I did it proudly and we can say that they were never fired in anger.”

Joining Shanahan in addressing the small crowd on the bridge was Stanislaus County Supervisor Terry Withrow. He referenced the Bible passage John 15:13 in saying, “There’s no greater love that a person can give than to give their life, to lay down their life, for their friends. And that’s why we’re here today, to honor those who laid down their lives for their friends.”

Even with all our faults and all our issues, the supervisor said, “We live in the greatest country in the history of this world. There’s nothing better than what we have here. But ... we wouldn’t be here without the people that we’re honoring here today. And it’s so important that we pass that on to our kids. ... We’ve got to remember that, because without that, this country would disappear and we can’t let that happen.”