VETERANS DAY IN PASADENA WILL FOCUS ON LONG WAR VETS, PASADENA COMMUNITY COLLEGE

PASADENA, CA October 1, 2013 Pasadena’s annual Veterans Day Ceremony has moved to a new location. It will be held in front of Pasadena City Hall, at Centennial Square, located at 100 North Garfield, Pasadena CA 91101, on Monday, November 11, 2013, from 10:00 a.m. to 11:11 a.m.

The event is co-sponsored by the Pasadena Veterans Day Committee and the City of Pasadena.
"This year, we are featuring the Pasadena Community College program, which is the number one program in California for returning veterans from the Long Wars," said John Watkins, the committee chair.

Bill Thomson, a committee member who is a former Pasadena mayor, practicing lawyer and present PCC Trustee, has arranged for the PCC Pep Band to play.

Bill Paparian, another committee member who is also a Marine veteran, a practicing lawyer and former Pasadena mayor, said, “We will focus on our youngest veterans, those who have served during the Long Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Speakers will include Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard, L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca, a Marine veteran, and PCC professor Harold Martin, with an invocation by Lt.Col. (Rabbi) Gilbert Kollin USAF (ret) of Pasadena Jewish Temple.

The Pasadena Firefighters Association Local 809 will grill 500 hot dogs and the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 446 (Pasadena) will provide dessert.

Committee member Leonard Torres, a Marine veteran explained, “We want to honor all who have served. By 2015, there will be over 2 million young civilians who are veterans of these Long Wars.”

The ceremony will conclude with a fly by at 11:11 a.m.

For more information, see pasadenavets.blogspot.com , @PasVetsDay2013 on Twitter, or Pasadena Veterans Day, 2013 on Facebook.