IMPERIAL BEACH (KGTV) — Residents in Imperial Beach came together Monday for an intimate Memorial Day ceremony at Veterans Park to honor the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
The ceremony included a special military guest speaker, NBSD XO CDR William Burkland, a toll of a bell, and the reading of names, and a floral tribute for family to recognize their fallen military family member or friends.
"We do this every year on Memorial Day to make sure that they never be forgotten," Mick Fulton, Secretary of Fleet Reserve Association Branch and Unit 289 in Imperial Beach said. "It allows them to commemorate their fallen ones," Fulton said.
Fleet Reserve Association Branch and Unit 289, along with American Legion Post 820, VFW Post 5477, and the City of Imperial Beach, hosted the Memorial Day observance ceremony. Fulton noted that Imperial Beach has a large veteran community.
Imperial Beach Mayor Mitch McKay said, "It's in our blood," when talking about the City's military roots.
McKay said his city is interwoven into the military community, situated between the two largest military installations in the county, the base for Navy Seal training, and that's why Memorial Day carries deep meaning for its residents.
"It's very important not only that we recognize that those people are part of our community, but that we celebrate the sacrifice," McKay said.
The All Airborne Honor Guard conducted a 21-gun salute before a trumpeter played Taps to conclude the ceremony.
Afterward, the community gathered at Fleet Reserve on Silver Strand Blvd, where Chris Chapman, President of Branch 289, reflected on the significance of the event.
"It's an honor and a privilege to be able to do this for our veterans and those before us and those behind us," Chapman said.
Attendees shared food and gratitude for the meaning of Memorial Day.
Rosaline Kramlich shared how she honored her family members who served earlier at the Memorial Day ceremony.
"I presented four leis in memory of my family, my mother, my daddy, and both my brothers. I do miss him so very, very much," Kramlich said.
Christa Hudson, an Army Veteran and Miss Military Imperial Beach 2026, read a poem she wrote in remembrance of her grandparents and all military members who paid the ultimate sacrifice.
They paved the roads with boots worn thin, with folded flags with letters sent home stained in courage. They stood watch while the world slept safely, carrying burdens that most would never see. Some came home quieter some never came home at all, yet still their names echo through every freedom we breathe today we walk for them, for the ones who sacrifice birthdays, holidays, peace, sleep, and pieces of themselves. So future generations could keep dreaming, we walk for our military family, past, present, and remembered for the laughter in the barracks, the tears hidden behind uniforms, the battles fought long after the war ended because they paved the way with courage, stitched in every step, and now it's our turn to carry their memory forward. So this Memorial Day we do not walk alone we walk beside the fallen, beside the survivors, beside the legacy they left behind. With every step we whisper, we remember you we honor you, and we will never let your story fade.
