Memorial Day Crowd Gathers At Lafayette Crosses
LAFAYETTE (KCBS) –The small white crosses on a hillside near the Lafayette BART station that represent American service personnel who've perished in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan drew the patriotic this Memorial Day holiday.
KCBS' Tim Ryan Reports:
Chris Clausen of Pleasant Hill took his young son Joaquin to educate him about the real meaning of Memorial Day and the huge sacrifices the day memorializes. Young Joaquin is just 14 months old.
"That's one of the things I really appreciate about this particular memorial, is the visual representation is just very staggering," said Clausen. "It's a lot to take in."
The hillside holds 6,160 crosses, but the number grows each week.
Linda Vaughan of Antioch stopped on her way home from work. She said that when the memorial went up years ago she never imagined it growing so large.
"I'm so proud of my country, and proud of every single person that those crosses represent," said Vaughan, who lost her 19-year-old military nephew in a stateside accident.
Reportedly 643 of the total deaths represented involved Californians, which is more than 10 percent.
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