Veterans Day in Baldwin Park celebrated with red, white and blue and parachuters
American Legion Borinquen Post 508 presented the colors colors, offered a three-volley salute and played taps. It is harder to find a trumpet player these days, according to Vietnam War Veteran Domingo Sambolim, who held the trumpet as a recording played the bugle call.
Mayor Manuel Lozano, who has WWII and Vietnam veterans in his family, said it is important to reflect and remember: “We are multicolored, and we are all Americans.”
State Sen. Susan Rubio, whose brother Brian serves in the U.S. Army, championed the need to take care of servicemen and women once they return home. “No veteran should ever go hungry; no veteran should ever live in the street; and no veteran should ever need medical attention,” she said.
She was also on hand to honor Korean War veteran Geronimo Centeno, who was stationed in Hanford to guard a nuclear plant that produced plutonium during the Cold War. Centeno gave a thumbs up as he received a certificate and later a hug from Rubio, a Baldwin Park resident who served nine years on the local City Council.
A small number of veterans joined a crowd of about 300 in Cesar Chavez Amphitheater for Baldwin Park’s 28th annual Veterans Day Ceremony on Monday in an event that included parachuters.
There were red, white and blue scarves, beads, bows, flags and one little boy in fatigues.