Memorial Day Observance at Woodlawn Cemetery

May 25 -- Santa Monica will mark the city’s 69th annual observance of Memorial Day on Monday with patriotic music, a color guard and a ceremony honoring a local police officer killed in Iraq two years ago.

Presented by a consortium of local charitable and service-oriented organizations, this year’s event will begin at 11 a.m. at Woodlawn Cemetery, 1847 14th Street.

The event will feature patriotic music performed by a student choir from Lincoln and John Adams middle schools of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, a US Marine Corps color guard and memorial presentations.

California State Assemblywoman Julia Brownley and Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom will be in attendance and will be making presentations.

During the observance, Santa Monica Police Officer Ricardo A. Crocker will also be honored. Officer Crocker, a highly decorated and accomplished police officer, was killed in action on May 26, 2005 while serving his second tour of duty in Iraq. Officer Crocker was a Marine serving at the rank of major at the time of his death.

The keynote speaker of the event will be USMC First Lieutenant Colin Browning, who has served two tours of duty in Iraq, including the Fallujah region of the country. While in Iraq, Lt. Browning served as a rifle platoon commander and as an Iraqi army training officer.

Parking for this event will be available directly across the street from the cemetery in the Santa Monica College parking structure located at 1900 Pico Boulevard (16th Street and Pico Blvd.)

Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus will provide shuttle bus service from the parking structure to the cemetery and back. Only individuals with vehicles displaying disabled placards will be allowed to park on the cemetery grounds. THERE IS NO CHARGE FOR PARKING, SHUTTLE BUS OR ADMISSION TO THE OBSERVANCE.

For additional information, please contact Virgil County, Cemetery Administrator, Woodlawn Cemetery at (310) 458-8717.