Rancho Bernardans will gather in Webb Park on Monday morning for their community’s annual Veterans Day ceremony.
The event will begin with a recorded musical prelude at 10:45 a.m. as attendees start arriving for the 11 a.m. ceremony on Nov. 11 at the Rancho Bernardo Veterans Memorial.
The park is at 11666 Avena Place. Due to limited seating, attendees are advised to bring lawn chairs or blankets for grass seating.
The national anthem will be sung by Mary Beth Doss, a 99-year-old World War II veteran who served in the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service). The master of ceremonies will be Lisa Friedrichs, the VFW’s California High School Teacher of the Year in 2019-20. She has since retired as Rancho Bernardo High’s choir director.
Retired Marine Corps Col. Daren Erickson (Courtesy of Daren Erickson)
The keynote speaker will be retired Marine Corps Col. Daren J. Erickson, executive director of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego Museum Foundation.
Erickson enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1986, attended boot camp at MCRD San Diego and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1992 after graduating with his bachelor’s degree from Chaminade University. He later earned a master’s in business management from Troy State University and graduated cum laude with his juris doctorate from Thomas Jefferson School of Law.
He has served in Hawaii, Japan, Twentynine Palms, Iraq, Afghanistan, Camp Pendleton and as MCRD San Diego’s regimental commanding officer. His last assignment before retiring from active duty in 2023 after 37 years in the military was as the Chief of Staff, U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific.
The Veterans Day ceremony is being organized by the Rancho Bernardo Veterans Memorial Association, with support from members of the Brig. Gen. J.P. Holland Chapter of The Military Order of the World Wars and members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Also assisting are members of Scouts BSA Troop 685 and the Westview High School NJROTC Color Guard.
For details and a parking map, visit RBVMA.org.