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Always remember.
Those words echoed across Clallam County on Monday as residents paid tribute to the soldiers of wars past.
One local hero had a memorial unveiled in his honor at Port Angeles’ Veterans Park on Lincoln Street.
The county courthouse bell tolled 12 times as a 100-strong gathering saluted the sacrifice made by Marine Pfc. Richard B. Anderson.
On Feb. 1 1944, Anderson gave his life to save three other Marines while they huddled in a 15-foot deep shell crater on the Pacific Island of Roi Namur.
Anderson had tried to throw a live grenade at Japanese forces, but it slipped from his hand.
According to a bravery citation letter from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Anderson covered the grenade with his body, saving his fellow Marines from certain injury or death.
In Jefferson County on Monday, veterans, their family members and other residents honored the casualties of America’s wars in five ceremonies.
From Port Townsend to Gardiner, people listened to prayers, “Taps” and 21-gun salutes on Memorial Day.
Peter Jewell of Port Townsend, post commander for Marvin G. Shields American Legion No. 26, recalled rapid bursts of gunfire during his tour of Vietnam.
Pamela Ricketts of Port Townsend recalled buzz bombs and rockets falling on her native England when she was 10 years old.
Linda Deleo of Port Townsend talked of a cousin and an uncle who served in World War II and a son-in-law currently on duty with the Navy in the Persian Gulf.
These full reports appear in today’s editions of the Peninsula Daily News, on sale through Clallam and Jefferson counties. Or click onto “Subscribe” to order your copy via U.S. mail.
