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Remembering Our Departed Service Men and Women

 

Photo of General Manager and CEO Jorge Carrasco.

General Manager and CEO Jorge Carrasco speaks at the North Service Center Memorial Day event.

City Light workers at the North and South Service centers took a moment to remember our departed military men and women and to honor our veterans at two Memorial Day ceremonies in May.

The events took place on May 22 at the North Service Center and May 23 at the South Servie Center, during flag raising ceremonies at each site’s flag poles. The South Service Center event also served as a re-dedication of a flag pole that was removed to make way for the expansion of the Spokane Street Viaduct.

Both events raised a flag flown in a mission in Iraq on Nov. 27, 2007. The flag was donated by Washington Army National Guard Master Sgt. William Clardy, who serves with the 181st Brigade Support Battalion.

The flag ceremonies were escorted by the Seattle Fire Department Honor Guard at the North Service Center, and the Liberty High School NJROTC Honor Guard at the South Service Center.  Captain Andy Ohmdahl (USMC retired), played “To the Colors” and “Taps” on bugle during the flag raising and the closing of the ceremonies.

 

Photo of Liberty High School NJROTC color guard raising flag.

A Liberty High School NJROTC color guard raises the flag during a Memorial Day event at the South Service Center.

Ohmdahl is a member of “Taps for Taps,” an organization founded by former state Senator Ken Jacobsen, which provides bugle calls for military funerals and other ceremonies. Senator Jacobsen attended both events.

The events ended with a presentation by Jack Hamann, the author of On American Soil: How Justice Became a Casualty of World War II. The book investigates how 43 African American soldiers at Fort Lawton were blamed and convicted for rioting and lynching an Italian prisoner of war in 1944. The convictions were overturned in 2005, largely thanks to Hamann’s investigation of the case.