Santa Monica College: Honoring All Who Served
On Thursday Nov. 7, in the center of the main Santa Monica College (SMC) campus quad, the Veterans Success Center organized a special ceremony for National Veterans Awareness Week.
The ceremony featured a short, empowering speech by guest speaker Jere L. Romano, a Marine Corps veteran with over 30 years of experience.
In a brief interview, Romano shared his thoughts on the impact the ceremony has on SMC students, future plans to honor veterans, and anyone Romano is specifically honoring during his speech today.
Regarding the impact on SMC students, Romano said, “It gives (students) an insight into voluntary service, something very similar to the Peace Corps, because you’re working for the U.S. government, but because we don’t have the draft, you had to volunteer. It gives them an example of volunteerism that leads to civic duty.” He added, “I have eight children and they’re heavily engaged with community and civic responsibility… I give them questions to learn what it means to serve.”
At the Veteran’s Day ceremony, it started off with a musical tribute. The Star Spangled Banner played as attendees faced the flag, their right hands over their hearts. Romano introduced himself and began his speech.
For future plans to honor veterans, Romano said, “They did a Heroes’ Breakfast earlier in the week, (with) veterans that are down at the Veterans Success Center downstairs at the Cayton. There's going to be a huge event on the Pier on Monday, November 11. It’s going to be a massive event. That’s to celebrate not only the veterans of Santa Monica, but veterans of West Los Angeles.”
Romano went on to talk about people he wanted to honor during his speech. He said, “I think that's where people get it wrong. There's really three holidays that have to do with the armed forces. So, Veterans Day is to really honor those that serve. Where Memorial Day is to recognize the sacrifices of those who gave it all. So when you talk about honoring somebody, I always look at the veterans who had an impact on my life. There was a bunch of World War II veterans who mentored me within the organization (American Legion) disabled veterans, so if I had to honor anyone, it would be those people that mentored me.”
Romano had over 30 years of experience and honorable service in law enforcement and security consulting. He was known for his leadership, an advocate for veteran services, and was skilled in security strategy and crisis management.
During his speech, he goes more into detail about Veterans Day itself, saying, “People forget what Veterans Day means, they get hung up on Memorial Day, they’ve forgotten that we have an Armed Forces Day, which is to celebrate our active duty. People get it twisted. They want to talk about Veterans Day as in the sacrifices of those who made the ultimate sacrifice. They forget about the everyday veteran, who has made sacrifices of some of the worst ships in the fleet.”
Romano explains the shared experience of being a veteran is that it’s an opportunity on this day to remind America of the duties they provided.
Continuing with his speech, Romano talks about being on a volunteer force. Romano wants to work diligently to show that veterans serve honorably with duty and devotion. He said, “We have been a volunteer force in Vietnam, not everybody raises their hand. We’re down to roughly 1% of the American population that serves in uniforms. So there's the 99% that don’t understand what it means to be a veteran. They have no clue, and right now we’re working diligently to change the image.”
On Monday, November 11, the fifth annual Veterans Day Ceremony was held at the Santa Monica Pier. It was free and open to the public, offering a significant way to honor veterans native to the west los angeles area. More details can be found on the pacific park website.
https://pacpark.com/veterans-day-2024-ceremony-at-the-santa-monica-pier/