2019 Veterans Day Schedule— 10 a.m.: Parade begins at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall, 810 H St. in Crescent City, and ends near the Point of Honor.— 11 a.m.: VFW members host a presentation, recognizing Armistice Day, at the Point of Honor monument,#placement_573654_0_i{width:100%;max-width:550px;margin:0 auto;}var rnd = window.rnd || Math.floor(Math.random()*10e6);var pid573654 = window.pid573654 || rnd;var plc573654 = window.plc573654 || 0;var abkw = window.abkw || '';var absrc = 'https://ads.empowerlocal.co/adserve/;ID=181918;size=0x0;setID=573654;type=js;sw='+screen.width+';sh='+screen.height+';spr='+window.devicePixelRatio+';kw='+abkw+';pid='+pid573654+';place='+(plc573654++)+';rnd='+rnd+';click=CLICK_MACRO_PLACEHOLDER';var _absrc = absrc.split("type=js"); absrc = _absrc[0] + 'type=js;referrer=' + encodeURIComponent(document.location.href) + _absrc[1];document.write('');— 12 p.m.: Lunch and slideshow at the VFW, hosted by VFW Post #1381.Count on shedding some tears during the flag-raising ceremony Monday at the Del Norte County Veteran’s Memorial Point of Honor.You’ll be in good company.Kelly Schellong has worn many hats since coming to Crescent City in 1991: as a Crescent City Council member, mayor, sales manager at Bicoastal Media, an Army mom.“Other than having my son, completing the monument is in the top-five proudest moments of my life,” Schellong said.“It’s really a good feeling, when you can do something to honor a group of people who have made such an impact on your country and community. To know you were a part of that, is pretty special.”After a decade of work by a veterans committee to get the monument approved, Schellong was asked to step in and spearhead fundraising efforts.She said that through events small and large, raffles, concerts, dinners and live auctions (one was hosted by State Sen. Mike McGuire as guest auctioneer that brought in $40,000), the committee’s coffers grew to about $175,000.“Every single dollar we raised, except a $3,000 grant from the Pacific Power Foundation, was from this community. It was an outpouring of an abundance of love,” Schellong said.The monument’s design includes an obelisk and flag dedicated to each branch of the military, including the U.S. Coast Guard; a stone wall honoring sponsors, donors and committee members; an obelisk dedicated to the Hmong soldiers who served during a U.S. secret war in Laos; and two rows of bricks that community members bought and dedicated to someone specific or to a service in general.And most important to the designers, a wall dedicated to those from Del Norte County and Crescent City who were killed in action.The monument was finally completed and formally presented to the community in a July dedication ceremony at Front Street and U.S. Highway 101. Schellong becomes emotional, recalling the reactions since.“It’s been amazing, heartwarming,” she said, pausing to collect herself. “I’ve been down there when veterans will be just standing there and they come up to me and say, ‘You don’t understand how much this means to me.’ Members of our committee have seen veterans down there crying.“When we did the groundbreaking, there was an older gentleman, a pilot in Vietnam, he came over to me and said this is honoring the guys that he lost.“It’s a monument, but it means so much more to the veterans who fought to protect our country.”One of those veterans, former Police Chief Doug Plack, spearheaded the effort to track down the names of local military members killed in action. “We felt it was extremely important to identify individuals who died in the line of duty from Crescent City and Del Norte County, or who lived here a significant amount of time,” Plack said.“This was an opportunity for us to tell veterans that our community holds the veterans in high regard who sacrificed their time in the military."A Coast Guard member from 1970-74, Plack enlisted help from the Crescent City Veterans of Foreign Wars, Daughters of the American Revolution, the U.S. Veterans Administration and Karen Betlejewski of the Historical Society.To Plack, the number of names was high - 41. They found 20 from World War II, four from the Korean War, 13 from the Vietnam War, two in Afghanistan, one in the Persian Gulf and one killed on 911.He said that because records are incomplete, they could find no names from WWI or earlier.Speaking with Plack by phone, his emotions were plain to hear as he talked about community reaction to the monument. “The response has been tremendous. One time when I drove by, I saw a woman walk up to the Army obelisk, place her hand on it and bow her head. It was very moving.“I can’t help but think it’s sacred land. It gives them a door to their loved ones while representing the troops still fighting,” Plack said.Still, he feels the monument is incomplete, knowing the committee has missed names on the Killed in Action wall. If you know of anyone killed in action who lived in Crescent City or Del Norte County was omitted, call Plack at 707-954-5272. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('ad-1515727'); });