City Honors Veterans

Pasadena honored its military veterans for the somber veterans Day ceremony on Tuesday, November 11, 2025. (Paul Takizawa/Pasadena Now)

Veterans, city and elected officials along with local residents gathered in front of City Hall on Tuesday to honor Veterans Day.

The ceremony marked the 250th anniversary of the founding military branches—Army, Navy, and Marine Corps.

Pasadena Medal of Honor recipient Lieutenant Colonel Raymond G. Harvey was honored at the event and the 2nd Battalion, 23rd

Marine Regiment was welcomed home from a six-month deployment to Okinawa, Japan.

“The City of Pasadena is deeply grateful for the service of all our Veterans — for your courage, your sacrifices, and those of your families,” said Mayor Victor Gordo in his opening remarks. “We stand with you always, with enduring gratitude and unwavering support.

To the families and loved ones who’ve held down the fort: the spouses who became single parents overnight, the kids who counted down deployments on homemade calendars, the parents who prayed through every midnight call, you are the anchors of this battalion. Your strength made this mission possible.”

The regiment was activated last year as the first full Marine Reserve infantry battalion to deploy to Okinawa in over five years.

“For six grueling months, you forward deployed, conducting bilateral and multilateral training across Japan, South Korea, and beyond.

Harvey was awarded the Medal of Honor, presented by President Harry S. Truman.

On March 9, 1951, near Taemi-Dong, Harvey charged multiple enemy machine gun nests under heavy fire, sustaining wounds but refusing evacuation until his unit secured Hill 1232.

Veterans Day began as Armistice Day in 1919 to honor the end of World War I on November 11, 1918.

It was changed to Veterans Day in 1954 to honor all American veterans.

WWII veteran, Raymond Weeks, organized the first “National Veterans Day” in 1947.

Weeks is credited with spearheading the change to a national holiday honoring all veterans.

Former Mayor Bill Paparian served as the Master of Ceremonies and Justice Eileen C. Moore of the Fourth Circuit Appellate Court served as a nurse in Vietnam.

“I happened to come along at a time when women who did not come from families with money really had very few opportunities in life,” Justice Moore said. “That is, they could get married and have children and be a wife. And if they worked, they could be a teacher, a nurse, or a clerk typist—secretary. But really very few other options.”

While Justice Moore was in nursing school, the Army came to her campus to talk about enlisting. She said it “lit a fire” under her to serve her country, so she did it.