A contingent of San Diego Eagles joined more than a thousand other volunteers on Saturday, December 13, at Miramar National Cemetery to honor veterans buried and inurned there and to recognize in particular a member of the BC Class of 1957.

L-R: Joe Mahler ’74 P’11, Lori Mahler P’11, Jonathan Edge, Dara Garrison, Lissa Tsu ’00, Julie Croce ’93, Bill McDonald ’68 (at rear), Mary-Lou Kiley MSW’77, Brian Tsu ’00, Holly Baird ’97, and Tanya Van Wert ’92.

The group participated in Wreaths across America, a national effort to remember the fallen . . . honor those who serve . . . teach children the value of freedom. BC alumni chapters participate around the country, with large contingents at Bourne and Arlington national cemeteries. The San Diego chapter had previously partaken at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery on Point Loma, but, having honored the BC alumni interred there, moved to Miramar this year.

Joining the chapter contingent was Dara Garrison, our liaison at BC alumni, and her father, Jonathan Edge, a retired Navy veteran. Dara had attended a conference in San Diego during the week and her father was visiting where he had formerly served.

The opening ceremony.

After attending a moving opening ceremony at the cemetery’s assembly area, chapter members placed several wreaths at the headstones of veterans buried there, acknowledging them by name and offering a salute or other gesture of respect.

Then, chapter members gathered at the columbarium, where cremated remains are stored, and located where the cremated remains of Richard John Clarke, Jr., ’57, and his wife, Marilyn, are kept.

The group laid a wreath on the ground beneath the plaque and paid its respects.

Retired Navy veterans Jonathan Edge, left, and Bill McDonald ’68 hold a wreath below the repository of the cremated remains of Richard and Marilyn Clarke.

Richard J. Clarke, Jr., ’57.

Richard J. Clarke, Jr. was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in July 1935 and died in Oceanside, Calif., in October 2017. He served as an officer in the Navy.