Before COVID crept into our lives, on Memorial Day, the Torrance Historical Society conducts a public memorial service for Torrance service personnel who gave their lives in U.S. military actions. The program takes place in the plaza of the City of Torrance Veterans Memorial at the corner of Torrance Blvd. and Maple Ave. and includes the reading of the 146 Names on the Wall. Those names include war losses from World War I to those in the Iraq and Afghanistan War.
In a continued abundance of caution, a few members of the Torrance Historical Society, gathered on Wednesday at the Names on the Wall, without an audience, for a reading of the names. There was only one reader, not seven – Charlie Saulinas, a Vietnam Veteran. Michelle Polcari, President, virtually welcomed the “crowd,” and Jerry Ronan, Coordinator of the event, lead the Flag Salute.
It was simple. It was poignant. It was tradition.
Torrance CitiCABLE 3 was there to capture the reading, and will air it on CitiCABLE 3 on Memorial Day (Monday, May 31st) at 8:00 AM, 10:00 AM, 3:00 PM, and 8:00 PM.
See the event on YouTube.
COVID, or no COVID, we will hear the names of the 146 war losses, who once called Torrance “home,” read aloud on Memorial Day.
On Monday, we will be grateful for the gift of those who never came home. We will remember — every day is Memorial Day. ” We will pray that we may never add another name to that cold, black wall,” noted Jerry Ronan, Torrance Historical Society Board Member and WWII Veteran.
Note: With the help of a handful of volunteers, the Torrance Historical Society is continuing to gather and preserve the too-short life story of each of the Torrance military war causalities. To date, the organization is over halfway to their goal of putting a face on each name. The organization aspires to research, and place in the Museum archives, the story of each of these heroes.
