City of Walnut Creek Announces Memorial Day Observances

From the City of Walnut Creek:

The City of Walnut Creek will honor the memories of those who gave their lives in service to our country at a Memorial Day Observance on Monday, May 25. The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. at Civic Park.

Keynote speakers Dick DuBey and Gayle Vassar will share stories of two young men who lost their lives in Vietnam. This year is the 50th anniversary of the commencement of the ground war in Vietnam.

DuBey, a Rossmoor resident, will read excerpts from some of the dozens of letters Kenneth Hirst wrote to his family while in Vietnam. Hirst, a Marine Lance Corporal, was killed in action in May 1967. Hirst’s sister, Kathy Davison of Walnut Creek, made the letters available to honor her brother’s memory

Vassar, the City’s Communications and Outreach Manager, will talk about the loss of her uncle David Bujalski, a West Point graduate who was killed in action in 1967, and for whom Bujalski Field at Fort Huachuca, Arizona is named.

DuBey served a combined 27 years in the U.S. Army and the Army Reserve, and is well known in Walnut Creek for his leadership as the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) volunteer training coordinator. He served primarily as an instructor/trainer and the Command Sergeant Major of the 2nd Basic Combat Training and Combat Engineer Training Brigades in the 98th Division, located in Buffalo, NY from 1962 to 1981. He then served as the Command Sergeant Major of the 6237th USAR Training School located at Camp Parks in Pleasanton, CA. from 1982 until his voluntary separation from duty in 1987. He officially retired from the Army Reserve in March of 1998.

The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. in the Civic Park gazebo and include patriotic music performed by the Walnut Creek Concert Band. The ceremony will conclude with the laying of wreaths at the Veterans Memorial Plaza across from Civic Park.