Pasadena Honors Its Fallen Heroes Today

From a Japanese-American soldier who earned the Medal of Honor while his family was held in an internment camp to a Green Beret who died searching for lost comrades in Vietnam, Pasadena’s Memorial Day ceremony today will honor heroes whose stories span generations and reflect the diverse face of American military service.

The names of 320 men and women from Pasadena who died in military service will be read during Monday’s commemoration at Memorial Park, according to a city announcement. The 10:30 a.m. ceremony represents one of the most comprehensive local tributes to fallen service members in the region.

Among those honored will be Sergeant Joe Ryo Hayashi, who enlisted in the U.S. Army from the Heart Mountain, Wyoming relocation camp where Japanese-Americans were detained during World War II. Hayashi received the only Medal of Honor awarded to a Japanese-American soldier during that war, though the recognition came decades later when President Bill Clinton presented the posthumous award on June 21, 2000, after a review of previous Distinguished Service Cross recipients.

The ceremony will also commemorate Master Sergeant Thomas Joseph Sanchez, a Pasadena native and Golden Gloves boxing champion at John Muir High School who enlisted in 1950. After earning the Bronze Star with three clusters for bravery in Korea, Sanchez became a Green Beret and died March 6, 1967, in Vietnam while searching alone for missing American and Vietnamese soldiers despite intense enemy fire. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army’s second-highest decoration for valor.

Another Pasadena hero to be remembered is Lieutenant Montrose Graham McCormick of the U.S. Navy, who received two Silver Star medals for gallantry during submarine war patrols in enemy-controlled waters during World War II, including actions aboard the USS Cobia in 1944.

“There’s an African proverb that says: ‘As long as you speak my name, I shall live forever,'” Captain William Paparian of the California State Guard, who will serve as master of ceremonies, wrote in prepared remarks obtained by this newspaper. “On Memorial Day 2025 in Pasadena, we will speak the names of the sons and daughters of Pasadena who gave the last full measure of devotion.”

Paparian is a former mayor of Pasadena.

Vice Mayor Jess Rivas will help lead the reading of names alongside cadets from the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps Pasadena Division and Blair High School’s Army Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. The names span conflicts from World War I through the current War on Terror.

Among the Vietnam War casualties is First Lieutenant Mark Enari, whose death in a December 2, 1966 assault on an enemy position led to a U.S. Army base being named Camp Enari in his honor. Enari died storming a machine gun nest to save five wounded soldiers pinned down by enemy fire, earning a posthumous Silver Star.

The ceremony will include 31 names from Pasadena’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial, representing soldiers who, as Paparian will say in his remarks, “have never grown old and remain frozen in time.”

Lieutenant Commander Pedro M. Trinidad of the Navy Chaplain Corps will deliver the invocation and benediction. Trinidad was commissioned in 2018 and currently serves as Battalion Chaplain for 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marines, 4th Marine Division. He holds degrees in Religion and Divinity from Andrews University and serves as Discipleship and Outreach Pastor at Carmichael Seventh-day Adventist Church in Sacramento.

The 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marines will present funeral honors to the city during the ceremony.

Officials announced that a planned flyover has been canceled due to unforeseen circumstances.

The commemoration takes place at Memorial Park, located at 85 E. Holly St.

Paparian wrote that “For those Gold Star families who have lost loved ones, it is a day to reflect on their sacrifices and to find solace in the collective gratitude of a nation.”

The event is sponsored by the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department, Rose Bowl Stadium, Pasadena Management Association, Vietnam Veterans of America, Daughters of the American Revolution, and the American Legion.