A Memorial Day ceremony is planned to bring the community together to celebrate, honor and remember America’s heroes who gave their lives in the line of duty.

Eternal Valley Memorial Park working with the Santa Clarita Valley Memorial Committee is sponsoring the 22^nd annual Memorial Day Celebration on May 31, to honor our local veterans.

“It’s a great way to celebrate Memorial Day the way it’s intended, that is remembering our veterans and those who helped secure our liberties,” said Bill Kennedy, the events Master of Ceremonies, and a retired Colonel of the U.S Air Force.

The theme of this year’s memorial and celebration is to honor the fighting that took place in the Pacific theater and on the island of Iwo Jima.

A group called the “Young Marines” will perform a reenactment of the taking of Mount Suribachi, where photographer Joe Rosenthal took the famous photo of Marines raising the American flag.

The Santa Clarita Valley Concert Band will be providing music for the event and the Condor Squadron will be performing a fly-by with World War II vintage airplanes in a multi-aircraft formation.

More than 500 Brownies, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and Young Marines will place American flags on the graves of fallen soldiers prior to the event.

Following the initial event the names of more than 850 veterans inscribed on the Veterans Memorial wall at the park will be read as Aaron Shaw, a Scottish bagpiper, plays.

The event is free and open to the public.  The ceremony starts at 10 a.m. on May 31.