Join us to Honor and Remember in
SAN LUIS OBISPO

Monday, MAY 27, 2024

• 11:00 am – Ceremony (outside)

• 12:00 pm – Tri-tip BBQ (inside and outside seating)

• 1:00 pm & 2:00 pm – Special Exhibit Talks on new special exhibit:
  “WWII in the Philippines” in museum onsite

Location:
VETERANS MEMORIAL BULDLING
801 GRAND AVENUE, SAN LUIS OBISPO

This Memorial Day, join us in San Luis Obispo, for our annual outside ceremony, followed by BBQ lunch, as we give special honor and recognition to the individuals who sacrificed their lives while serving their country.

11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Memorial Day Remembrance Ceremony, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm. 
This year’s Memorial Day ceremony is an opportunity to reflect on the history and meaning behind Memorial Day and also pay tribute to the courage and sacrifice of those involved with the conflicts in the Philippines during WWII.

Ceremony includes:

• Flag Presentation by U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps & Color Guard
• Reading of the Ragged Old Flag Poem and the Gettysburg Address
• Guest speaker, Rosalie Salutan Marquez
  President, Filipino American National Historical Society President, Central Coast Chapter
• History of the American Flag by Boy Scout Troop
• Placement of Floral Wreath
• Patriotic song performances by:
  • Central Coast Harmony Chorus
  • Hyrum Del Castillo

Lunch begins directly following the ceremony around 12:00 pm 
$15 Tri-Tip Sandwich Lunch, with coleslaw, chips and drink

• Lunch will be served onsite at the American Legion, Post #66 following the ceremony, at noon, served until supplies run out.
• Tickets will be available onsite with paid with cash or check; pre-order tickets are also available by calling (805) 459-4015 or contact the American Legion, Post 66.
• We strongly recommend pre-purchasing or reserving your tickets ahead of Memorial Day.
• Free to veterans with valid ID, but we also recommend veterans reserve a ticket prior to Memorial Day to ensure they get a lunch before supplies run out!

10:00 am – 3:00 pm
“WWII in the Philippines” Special Exhibit on display with brief exhibit talks at the Museum

• • The Central Coast Veterans Memorial Museum is open on Memorial Day, onsite where the ceremony takes place, from 10:00am – 3:00 pm with free self tours or docent led tours throughout the day.
  • 1:00pm – Exhibit Talk: (30 min) Learn about our NEW special WWII exhibit and meet Kenneth Murphy, the co-author of, “When Men Must Live,” a book co-written with his father, James T. Murphy, documenting the compelling, true life experiences of his father’s 3.5 years held captive by Japanese Imperial Forces.
  • He survived the infamous Bataan Death March, and then—against all odds—endured more than three and a half years of brutality, starvation, illness, and inhumane treatment as a prisoner of war in the Philippines and later as slave labor at a Mitsubishi mine in Japan for American POWs, until liberation in August 1945.

• The Central Coast Veterans Museum was given the great honor to meet James, a remarkable Central Coast Veteran who is 103 year-old and thriving. We recorded his veteran oral history a few weeks ago, which will now be place into the Library of Congress Archives through our Veteran History Project.

• 2:00pm – Exhibit Talk: (30 Min) Learn about our New special WWII exhibit and meet local historian, Erik F. Brun, Lt. Col. (US retired). Erik will be giving a sneak preview of his upcoming Speaker Presentation at the Museum on June 11th, “U.S. Army’s 1st Filipino Battalion at Camp San Luis Obispo.”
• After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the War Department moved to mobilize Filipino men living in the United States who had been barred from service by law, despite a forty year history of Philippine Scout service in the Army. On December 21, 1941, the United States Congress passed the Filipino Naturalization Bill, allowing a Filipino combat unit to be formed.
• The U.S. Army’s 1st Filipino Infantry Battalion was activated at Camp San Luis Obispo, CA, on April 1st, 1942, just days before the Philippine and American forces surrendered at Bataan, and the Island Fortress of Corregidor, after four months of fierce resistance.
• Due to overwhelming response from the Filipino community the 1st Filipino Infantry Regiment was activated in July, and 2nd Filipino Infantry Regiment in October. By the end of WWII, seven hundred of these Filipino soldiers became the core of Army Special Operations in the Western Pacific, in reconnaissance, communications, and counter intelligence missions alongside the Alamo Scouts.

DID YOU KNOW? The San Luis Obispo Memorial Day remembrance event was originally offered at the San Luis cemetery in 1885 by the Civil War veterans of the Fred Steele Post 70 of the Grand Army of the Republic.  At that time celebrations included a patriotic parade beginning at Higuera and Chorro streets, ending at the San Luis Cemetery.American Legion Post 66 of San Luis Obispo has been a sponsor of the annual remembrance since 1923 when the WWI veterans of Post 66 were asked by the Fred Steel Post to continue the tradition, which has been done continuously since then, except for during the pandemic of 2020. In recent years, the Veterans Museum has co-hosted the event with Post 66, while debuting a new, temporary exhibit in the museum each year on Memorial Day.