Veterans' Day observances held

HONORED:
K. Maurice Johannessen holds up one of his plaques while his wife, Marianne, looks on from behind.

State and local officials took time out Tuesday, Nov. 11, to honor present and past members of the U.S. Armed Forces — living and dead — as they spoke about heroism, sacrifice, duty and preserving freedom.

The largest gathering of veterans in the North State occurred at the Northern California Veterans Cemetery where nearly 200 veterans have been buried or their cremains inurned with full military honors since the cemetery opened near Igo in 2005.

As part of the solemn procedings, former California State Senator K. Maurice Johannessen, 75, a Korean War-era U.S. Army veteran who also served for more than a year as Secretary of the California Department of Veterans Affairs, was given special recognition and honored for his considerable efforts on behalf of veterans throughout his years of public service on the Redding City Council, as a member of the Shasta County Board of Supervisors, as a state senator for nine years, and finally as chief administrator of the state's veterans department from 2002 to 2003.

Several of the plaques Johannessen received were presented by Thomas Johnson, who is currently service as Secretary of the California Department of Veterans Affairs, a position he has held since his appointment in 2004.

"In my opinion, this cemetery is the very best veterans cemetery in the nation," Thomas said as coastal fog began to creep inexorably over the distant mountain peaks shortly after noon on Veterans Day.

Thomas attributed much of the success of the North State's cemetery to volunteerism and the able leadership of cemetery administrator Stephen H. Jorgensen, also a U.S. Army veteran. However, the cemetery never would have been built without the legislative muscle and continued pushing from Johannessen and others, he quickly added.

"It is really a great honor for someone like me who is foreign born . . . to be recognized as an American," said Johannessen, who emigrated from Norway at age 15 while a member of the Norwegian Merchant Marine.

"But this is not a one man show by any means. I have to share the credits for this with Molly Wilson, my favorite Limey. She and Tom Woods, who was elected to the California Assembly, asked me to carry the legislation that would make this happen," Johannessen said.

State Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa acknowledged that while it may take many people to make the cemetery successful, "there has been one consistent strong voice from here, and that voice has been Senator Maurice Johannessen, so it is really, really appropriate to honor Maurice Johannessen here today in the midst of all of this ceremony."

California State Senator Sam Aanestad added his hearty congratulations as well.

"I'm here to say thank you especially to my fellow Norwegian, my friend and my mentor, Maurice Johannessen, who is on the phone to me nearly every day pushing for the veterans cemetery and for the Northern California Veterans Home," Aanestad said.

In addition to Johannessen, LaMalfa also honored Fred Salanti, 60, of Redding, as California's "Veteran of the Year" for starting the Missing in America Project, an organization that attempts to locate, indentify and properly bury the unclaimed remains of veterans who's ashes are being stored in thousands of mortuaries across the nation.

In the past two years, Salanti's Missing In America Project volunteers in 45 states have found 6,000 unclaimed cremains and identified 330 veterans who they then buried with full military honors.

As a finale to the nearly two hours of memorial speeches and presentations, the local Navy Jr. ROTC troop conducted a ceremonial flag folding above an urn containing the ashes of Rhoadley D. Hearst, a World War I veteran who also saw action on the U.S.-Mexico border.

"Hearst served in the U.S. Army from 1917-1919, but eventually ended up homeless, indigent and unclaimed," for many years until the Missing In America Project volunteers were able to piece together his name with old military records.

Hearst was one of 14 so honored by Salanti's group on Veterans Day.