Thank you for being here on this warm day.

I'm Kevin Wilk, Mayor of the City of Walnut Creek, and on behalf of the Walnut Creek City Council, I want to welcome you to our 2026 Memorial Day observance.

For Americans, Memorial Day should be the most important and solemn of our national holidays.

It is a day that we remember and honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice by laying down their lives for our country.

As we begin, I'd like to ask everybody to please stand for the presentation of colors, the singing of the national anthem, and for the pledge of allegiance that'll be led by Mayor Pro Tem Matt Francois.

Color guard, please present the colors.

Good morning.

Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Please be seated.

At this time, I would like to thank the Walnut Creek Police Department Honor Guard, the Walnut Creek concert band under the direction of Matthew Sadowski, and Mayor Mayor Protevin.

They do deserve an applause.

They're right.

And Mayor Pro Tem Matt Francois for leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I'd also like to recognize any former mayors and council members who might be here today.

If any of our former Walnut Creek City Council members have joined us, please stand up.

We have former Mayors Noella Haskew and Kathy Hicks.

Anybody else out there?

And please welcome Congressman Mark Desonyer.

State Senator Tim Grayson.

County Supervisor Ken Carlson joining us on the stage.

And representing Assembly member Anna Maria Avalafarius, and I'm not sure if she's here yet.

I know she was going to be coming.

Uh when she comes, we will then introduce her as well.

And we have a number of representatives for a congressional state offices.

Alas in the sand.

And if you could do that or wave your hands.

Any of our representatives from uh from our Congress office, State Center, or Assembly members.

And we also have, I know Sharice Cowan is here representing Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer Kahan.

And I would like to recognize all the veterans who are with us today.

Would you please rise?

Thank you for your service to our country.

Our invocation today will be delivered by Rabbi Jenny Shabon from Congregation Benay Tikfa.

Elected and civic leaders, people of the city of Walnut Creek, I am honored to offer these words of blessing on this sacred day of memory.

On this memorial day, this Yom Hazika on, as we say in Hebrew, we vow to remember with gratitude and love those who have served to defend our nation, those who have risked their own lives for our protection, and above all, those who died serving our country.

At a time in which our country and world are deeply divided.

Their memories call us to ask ourselves, who are we meant to be?

How do we honor those fallen soldiers through our own righteous actions?

Holy one, we thank you for the numerous blessings you have bestowed upon our nation.

Out of the many nations of the world, our country has been blessed with a singular opportunity to demonstrate how peoples of many faiths and heritages can live side by side and enrich one another's lives through friendship and the sharing of our unique traditions.

We pray for protection for all those who are serving our country and who have committed their lives to keeping us safe.

Source of life, spread your sukkat shalom, your shelter of peace over them and over their families, and grant us, oh God, the ability to work to create a land of peace and justice for all.

We pray that freedom will dawn for the oppressed in our nation, and that this city of Walnut Creek will continue to be an oasis of love and dignity and holy alliances.

May the day come soon that we find the courage to realize the words of your prophet Isaiah, let nation not lift up sword against nation, nor learn war anymore.

Amen.

For Americans, Memorial Day is the most solemn of our national holidays, as we unite to honor those who gave their lives in service to our country.

Beginning with the American Revolutionary War, the United States has been involved in numerous conflicts over its history.

The deadliest, of course, was the Civil War.

Between April 1861, and when the first shot, when the first shot was fired at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, and April 1865, when Union and Confederate troops laid down their arms at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia.

Our nation lost some 625,000 lives.

More American losses than those from all other wars and conflicts combined, and 100 times more than the number who died during the American Revolution.

The casualty figures were so large that nearly every American was directly touched by the conflict.

Over time, the families and friends of soldiers who lost their lives began to honor the sacrifices of the fallen by spending one day each year decorating their graves.

In time, entire communities began to come together on these remembrance days.

What was originally called Decoration Day, and we now call Memorial Day was first observed on May 30, 1868, when flowers were officially placed on the graves of more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers who were buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

After that, and for the next 50 years, Memorial Day was observed every year on May 30th to honor those who died during the Civil War.

Then after World War I, where 100,000 military lost their lives, the holiday was changed to honor Americans who die fighting in any war.

Today marks Walnut Creek's 36th Memorial Day observance.

It is a day for us to come together and pay our respects to all who made the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf.

And today it is especially an honor to recognize those from Walnut Creek who lost their lives while serving our country.

32 soldiers from our community were lost in World War II.

We lost 11 during the Korean War.

17 were lost in Vietnam.

And the two we most recently lost in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Memorial Day is an opportunity to remember and reflect and to stand with families of those that we've lost.

And it is now my honor to call up my fellow council members to share what Memorial Day means to them.

And I'll ask Mayor Protem Matt Francois to please start.

Good morning.

When I reflect on Memorial Day, I often think of our brave troops landing on D-Day on the Normandy beaches over 80 years ago.

Their bravery, their willingness to sacrifice, and their steadfast commitment to preserving democracy both at home and abroad.

They included men like Jake Larson, whom we were honored to have on this stage last year, and at the age of 102, be able to shake his hand, not only to thank him for his service, but thank you, thank him for saving democracy.

It wasn't a foregone conclusion that the Allied forces would prevail that fateful day.

General Eisenhower had drafted a speech in the event the Allied troops were not successful, in which he accepted full responsibility for the operation.

Here was the letter he delivered to Allied forces the day before D-Day on June 5th, 1944.

Soldiers, sailors, and airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force.

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade towards which we have striven these many months.

The eyes of the world are upon you.

The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.

In company with our brave allies and brothers in arms on other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of the Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one.

Your enemy is well-trained, well equipped, and battle-hearted.

He will fight savagely.

But this is the year, 1944.

Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940 to 41.

The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats in open battle, man to man.

Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground.

Our home fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men.

The tide has turned.

The free men of the world are marching together to victory.

I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle.

We will accept nothing less than full victory.

Good luck, and let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.

Dwight Eisenhower.

Now I'd like to introduce my colleague, Councilmember Cindy Silver.

Good morning.

Thank you all for joining us today as we commemorate Memorial Day and for all you do to help us here in this community.

When I think about the importance of military service, I do so as the wife of a Vietnam era Air Force veteran and as the mother-in-law of a naval aviator.

I know the sacrifices involved in military service because I'm the daughter of a World War II Liberty ship radio operator who served in the Pacific Theater, and I am the niece of four uncles who also served in World War II and Korea.

But my perspective of military service goes actually back further and against the backdrop of the civil war, because my great-grandfather, a Pennsylvania member of the Pennsylvania Cavalry, was among the Union troops who were with General Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia on the day that General Robert E.

Lee surrendered the Confederacy to the Union.

However, my belief in the importance of Memorial Day has not just been built in my family history.

It has been built over the last 20 years as I've had the great honor as a city council member to participate in this annual Memorial Day event and to be able to honor and remember dozens of young Walnut Creek men who made the ultimate sacrifice to defend our country.

For example, I remember the Memorial Day ceremonies where we honored the two Walnut Creek young men who were killed in 2007 while they were serving in the U.S.

Army.

U.S.

Army Specialist James Kuhn was a graduate of Los Lamas High School, a football player, and he was serving in Iraq when he was killed.

An Army Corporal Sean Langevin had been serving in Afghanistan when he was killed.

Then I think back to Memorial Day 2011, and I remember that we paid tribute to the 17 young men the community lost during the Vietnam War.

And I will never forget the stories of the five young men that we told and the words of condolence that we were actually able to deliver to the mothers of two of their two of those sons who were still alive 40 years after their sons' deaths.

In 2014, as part of the Walnut Creek Centennial, Memorial Day had even greater meaning to the community.

After all, the city was founded just before World War I broke out.

But we faced a particular challenge.

While the casualty records for Vietnam and more recent wars were readily available, the records from World War II and Korea were very difficult to compile.

But after months of painstaking research through newspaper archives and other historical records, a small team of three persons were able to compile and verify the complete list.

And on Monday, May 26, 2014, Walnut Creek was finally able to pay tribute to all of the 64 Walnut Creek men who lost their lives during war, including the 34 from World War II and the eleven from Korea.

As importantly, that research effort gave us more than a list of names and dates.

It gave us stories that has helped us to build the history of these young men.

And many of these young stories have been impossible to forget.

For example, the story of Ensign David Lawrence.

He was the son of the founder of the Lawrence Meat Market.

He was an ensign in the Navy.

He was set to deploy in World War II.

He had been at a training in Southern California, and he was killed on the California Highway on his way to say goodbye to his family.

And the story that I will never forget is the story of the Ennis Brothers.

Walnut Creek Twins, Beverly and Bruce.

They had joined the Navy together and were serving in the Pacific Theater on the same ship.

In 1942, the twins lost their lives on the same day when the tanker they were serving on was sunk in the Battle of the Coral Sea.

For me, it has been these stories and the opportunity to share them with the community each year that makes Memorial Day more than just an annual event.

It's a chance for all of us to come together and to honor these men and their families for the sacrifice they made in service to us all.

Thank you for your gift of being here today to join us in this ceremony.

And now I will welcome Councilmember Cindy Darling to complete the stories.

Thank you, Councilmember Silva.

Good morning, everyone.

So I'm going to be short and sweet.

What I value highest about Memorial Day is the unique nature of the sacrifice we honor.

Throughout history, armies have fought and died at the command of a king for a specific religion or for the narrow interests of their tribe.

But the American heroes we commemorate today did something entirely different.

When this nation asks for service, it is not for a ruler.

It is for an idea.

It is in the name of life, liberty, and the pursuit of a freer and fairer world.

The brave men and women who never made it home fought for a future where all of us can work together to build something better.

Today, let us resolve to live in a way that honors that grand ideal, ensuring that a world of liberty remains a lasting legacy.

Thank you.

And I'll turn it back to Kevin.

Thank you, Cindy.

I first wanted to recognize State Assembly member Anna Marie Allifarius, who made her way behind me at one point.

But I do want to recognize her that she is now on the stage with us as well.

And hello to my family who was joining here as well.

Thanks.

Thank you for supporting me.

For me, Memorial Day now takes on an added significance for a very different reason.

In 2021, I have the honor of being mayor and leading our Memorial Day ceremony right here.

The keynote speaker that day was my father, Robert Wilk.

Bob, as he was commonly known, talked about his years as a Coast Guard seaman during the Korean War.

And while he didn't see combat directly, he did talk about his experience, and what event was profound.

His ship was asked to recover the body of a pilot whose plate had gone down.

And it left a lasting impression on him.

With debris in the water along with the body.

And as he said at the time, this was war.

It was dangerous.

Anything can happen.

A plane can go down, a boat can sink, a person can drown, and people die, not knowing that day will be their last day on Earth.

He talked about getting to Japan and to the naval base and was asked to dress in civilian clothes so they wouldn't look militaristic.

He went into downtown Tokyo and was impressed that it had been all rebuilt since World War II, only a few years earlier.

And there he and his Coast Guard buddy met Japanese people and took note of how kind they were to him and to his friend, and that they were really enjoying spending time with these people who we had previously been told were his enemy and what nonsense that was.

And he said, right here, it's hard to have an enemy if you love your enemy.

He finished by saying that he appreciated all who had sacrificed their lives and gauge their service to this country, which he loved.

It was my father's last speech.

My dad died one year later, shortly after Memorial Day in 2022.

And now, whenever I think of Memorial Day, I remember the people who we've lost during our country's wars and thank them for their service.

And I think of my dad, my hero, Coast Guard Seaman Robert Wilk, talking about his own experience during the Korean War, right next to me, right here.

Our keynote speaker this morning, thank you.

Our keynote speaker this morning is eminently qualified to help us reflect on the meaning of Memorial Day in Walnut Creek.

Colonel Davis served for many years in the Army of the United States in active reserve guard and individual mobilization augment assignments.

He had the privilege to serve on four continents as an engineer officer and on four as a psychological operations officer.

He was fortunate to spend 17 of his last 19 years of service at U.S.

Army Special Operations Command and in its subordinate units.

Post retirement from the Army, Mr.

Davis has worked on oil and gas projects for Chevron on three continents, was a construction manager on San Francisco's Trans Bay Transit Terminal, and has facilitated the construction and renovation of schools in Hayward, Oakland, San Pablo, and Mount Diablo District.

He has since been strongly involved in a wide number of veteran service organizations and continues to speak about the importance of men and women becoming part of our military community.

And now with the sun shining down finally, please join me in welcoming Colonel Davis.

Good morning all.

Indeed, the sun just opened up.

Thank you, Mayor Wilkes, Council members, and welcome all.

I'm Colonel Davis, an Army engineer retired, who has had the fortune to serve a long career.

I wish to start by thanking the city of Walton Creek for inviting me here today to speak on this special day to you.

Let us consider then what brings us here history and purpose.

In 1864, during our civil war, as numerous dead and wounded arrived in Washington, D.C.

from the battlefields of the wilderness campaign, the cemeteries in the city were quickly overwhelmed.

The government began burials on Confederate General Lee's property, a plantation quite near Washington, DC, established a national cemetery at Arlington, and now it remains there yet today.

By the end of the war, more than 16,000 Civil War veterans, soldiers, were buried at Arlington.

And it was there three years after the war, on 30 May 1868, that the first official Memorial Day ceremony took place.

As Major Wilkins already told you, Decoration Day.

Decoration Day was widely observed around our country.

For almost every community in our nation had been touched by that war.

At the 1868 event, the newly organized Grand Army of the Republic, an association for Union Veterans, honored the occasion.

That's going to work real well.

Honored the occasion with a speech given by then Congressman James A.

Garfield, who had served as a Civil War Major General.

Garfield, who would later be elected president, told his comrades at the GAR ceremony that the men at Arlington had, I quote, summed up and perfected by one supreme act all the highest virtues of men and citizens.

For love of country they had accepted death and thus made immortal their patriotism and their virtue.

They had fought, he said, to defend the fundamental principle of the United States before that war.

The faith of our people in the stability and permanence of their institutions was like their faith in the eternal course of nature.

Peace, liberty, personal security were blessings as common and universal as sunshine and showers and fruitful seasons, and all sprang from a single source, the old American principle that all owe due submission and obedience to the lawfully expressed will of the majority.

This is not one of the doctrines of our political system.

It is the system itself.

Against this principle, the whole weight of the rebellion was thrown.

This principle's overthrow would have brought ruin.

Congressman Garfield continued, the nation was summoned to arms by every high motive which can inspire men.

Two centuries of freedom had made its people unfit now for despotism.

They must save their government or miserably perish.

Of those who died to defend this nation, he asked, what other spot is so fitting for their last resting place as this, under the shadow of the capital saved by their valor.

Seven years ago, this was the home of one who lifted his sword against the life of his country, and who became the great imperator of the rebellion.

The soil beneath our feet was watered by the tears of slaves, in whose hearts the sight of yonder capital awakened no pride and inspired no hope.

But thanks be to God, this arena of rebellion and slave and slavery is a scene of violence and crime no longer.

This will forever be the sacred mountain of our capital.

Hither our children's children shall come to pay their tribute of grateful homage.

For this are we met today.

Garfield had spoken on that first national observance of what would become later Memorial Day.

This event was a broader evolution of the many gatherings held across America that sought to contain the grieving of a war-torn nation in the aftermath of our Civil War.

One hundred years after the GAR inception of veterans of Memorial Day, in 1968, a hundred years later, Congress made Memorial Day official and moved it from its traditional 30 May date to the last day of Monday.

That law took effect in 1971, not coincidentally, at the height of the Vietnam War, in another time of national grieving.

Today, Memorial Day is a time for visiting ceremonies and memorials to remember, mourn, and pay respects to the soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen who have died in the line of duty while serving in the armed forces of the United States.

Today, over 400,000 service members are buried at Arlington.

And Arlington is one of 157 national cemeteries.

There's some good math in that.

Think it through.

Here in this park in the serenity of our community, we pause to reflect on the many men and women who have paid for our privileged and protected place in the greater world.

We note the monuments to them that stand across the street.

And many of us assembled here today also think there, but for the grace of God were I.

Thank you.

Please stand, remain standing for a moment.

While today is dedicated to remembering and honoring those who died in service, I would also ask that all who have served or who are now serving, please stand if you are able.

Thank you all.

We are a silent community often within our larger communities.

Dying in service to one's country is not typically anyone's intent when they join, I believe.

Joining, serving, contributing for honor, patriotism, acceptance, training, these are perhaps more typically the drivers in the all volunteer force of the past 50 years.

As a junior enlisted combat engineer, I trained to place landmines in front of Soviet tanks in the foldegap of Germany, should they ever come.

But I didn't expect to die.

None of us did.

Thirty years later, as a field grade officer, I led daily patrols to ensure access and maintained presence while coordinating and driving construction progress in a war zone called Afghanistan.

We, each of us on every patrol, knew that every mission could be terminal.

Still, we went out every day, sometimes two or three times a day.

These things are possible only because of the team, the camaraderie, the flag, and the support from home.

When any of these foundations fails, mission is at risk.

Also necessary is a generally held understanding that we are doing the right thing, that our leaders have our backs and that we aren't on a fool's errand.

That understanding is strained by political unrealities or misdirection.

Mission legitimate mission legitimacy is important.

Leadership, however, is the glue that makes what we do in the military possible.

General Colin Powell saw it this way.

Leadership is all about people.

It is not about organizations, it is not about plans, and it is not about strategies.

It is all about people, motivating people to get the job done.

You have to be people centered.

Of course, competent leaders do plan and strategize, but they do so on the foundation they have built with those who accept their leadership, for therein lies the capacity to execute the good plans.

As a young cadet, learning to be an officer, I took a lesson to heart given to me by one of my cadre.

An officer is responsible for everything his men do and everything they fail to do.

And that includes living.

A few months later, I suffered a first fatality in my platoon.

When the open truck in which we were riding from a rifle range rolled over, crushing three out of the eight of us.

That was right here at Fort Ord in sunny California on a training day like any other.

To attend that soldier's funeral, to participate in lowering his coffin, and to shake hands with his father, and tell him how sorry I was.

Some things in life are not meant to be forgotten, but moved beyond.

This event was fundamental to whom I became as an officer.

I'd like to note what two other officers have said that I feel is relevant to consider today.

General Norman Schwarzkopf, who led our forces in the first Gulf War, Desert Storm, said it does not take a hero to order men into battle.

It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle.

And further, any soldier worth his salt should be anti-war.

And still, there are things worth fighting for.

As we gather out of respect to our service member in the community and in our nation and in our history, who didn't ever come home again, please understand that very few of them set out to be their heroes, and most of them understood the collective need to stand up for those things worth fighting for.

And as we consider what those things might be in our somewhat sad and rather divided times, I'd like to close with a reflective quote from a World War II general, General Omar Bradley.

We live in a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.

In a world that has achieved brilliance without wisdom and power without conscience.

We have solved the mystery of the atom and forgotten the lessons of the Sermon on the Mount.

We know more about war than we know about peace, and more about dying than we know about living.

As remember, as we remember our dead today, please consider what they died for.

Thank you.

Thank you for being here.

Oh, well, I don't know what I want to do.

Oh, I don't know.

Thank you, everyone.

Thank you.

And next piece that we're performing is a community onces.

We invite all currents and former members.

As well as the direct family members.

The Marines.

Wow.

Thank you, Colonel Davis, for that heartfelt, memorable keynote address.

And I'd now like to invite back to ask Rabbi Jenny Shaban to provide our blessing.

Our God and God of our ancestors.

Watch over those who defend our nation, shield them from harm, and guide them in all their pursuits.

Grant their commanders wisdom and discernment in their time of preparation and on the battlefield.

Should battle erupt, may their victory be swift and complete.

May the loss of life for any of your creations be avoided.

Grant healing to those who are wounded and safe redemption to those who fall into enemy hands.

For those who have lost their lives, grant consolation and your will, oh God, is implanted within their minds.

May it be your will that world hostilities come to a rapid end, and that those in service are returned safely to their families.

May this vision come to pass speedily and in our day, and together we say Amen.

Thank you, Rabbi Shabon.

They never disappoint, do they?

We will complete our Memorial Day observance by the tribute to Wall and Creek's own who gave their lives.

Before we adjourn, I'd like to again thank all of you who decided to spend some time with us here today.

So please join us as the color guard will lead us in a procession.

Thank you.

Oh wait, there's nothing more than I've been on the way I don't have anything.

Is this then on?

Hi.

I'm Ollie.

The Great Horned Ow.

Recently, the air spoke cleaner in our parks.

And I'd like to find out why.

A little bird told me that it might have to do with leaf blowers.

So I'm going to talk to city staff to find out more.

Oh, hey, I'm Brandon.

I work for the City Walnut Creek in the parks department.

Hi there, Brandon.

I'm Ollie.

So what's all this about leaf blowers?

Are they related to why it's been easier to breathe around here?

Yeah.

Actually, city staff has switched over from gas-powered leaf blowers to electric powered.

What's the difference?

Well, gas-powered leaf blowers create harmful pollutions that can cause health issues, like asthma or even cancer.

Wow.

I knew they were loud, but I didn't realize that they were bad for our health, too.

Why are more people talking about this?

Actually, people are talking about it.

City passed a ban on gas leaf blowers, effective April first, twenty twenty six.

What a hoop.