Page 13 - ARUBA TODAY

A13
LOCAL Tuesday 30 May 2017

Memorial Day Ceremony Held on Eagle Beach at Costa Linda

to say that since that first vited by the Costa Linda memorial wreath of flow-
ceremony participation Vets, families and friends, ers was placed in the surf.
has indeed increased sig- Veterans gathered on the There was then a reading
nificantly. beach at 10:00am on May of a verse from ‘The Fallen’
From the beginning we 29, 2017 to form The De- by R.L. Binyon, followed by
have attempted to keep
the ceremony simple, sol-
emn, and apolitical. We’ve
kept it solemn for obvious
reasons, simple because
of the ages of some of our
vets who might find it dif-
ficult to stand in the sun
too long, and apolitical
because we were/are all
visitors in Aruba and under-
stood that the raising of the
EAGLE BEACH - On Memo- American flag or the sing-
rial Day morning in 2002 ing or playing of the Stars
four US armed forces vet- Spangled banner might of-
erans, their friends and fend some island residents.

tail. We asked that view- the playing of ‘Taps’ and
ers leave the area of the the Presentation of Arms
beach clear between The by the Detail. The Detail
Detail and the surf. was then dismissed.
There was a call to atten- There was coffee, juice

families gathered on Eagle We also soon realized that
Beach, Aruba, at the Cos- we had attracted veterans
ta Linda Beach Resort. The from other nations – Hol-
purpose of the gathering land, Aruba, and South Af-
was to honor all those who rica to mention a few.
had paid the ultimate sac- So in fairness to all, we
rifice in the service of their thought that large nation-
country. al banners and anthems
The simple ceremony has would be inappropriate.
since become an annual However, we encourage
event and has welcomed participants to wear any tion followed by a reading and donuts provided by
veterans from all nations to uniforms or national sym- of the poem ‘We Stand by the Costa Linda Beach
take part. We are pleased bols they wish to wear. In- the Sea’ (anonymous) as a Resort.q