Last week’s Memorial Day Ceremony was a chance for many to honor personal connections and discuss ways to honor the memories of the Aggies who died in military service to this country.

The ceremony was held Thursday (May 22) outside the Memorial Union, which is so named in honor of the 136 Gold Star Aggies who gave their lives in military service dating back to World War I.

“This Memorial Union, where we stand, remains the center of campus life in so many ways,” Chancellor Gary S. May said. “It is so fitting that this space, filled with energy and optimism, stands as an enduring thank-you to those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of their country.”

Many attendees recalled their own family members.

For May, it was great-uncle Isaac James Wilford Sr., a Tuskegee Airman and “one of my heroes.”

For third-year anthropology major Audrey Marrero, the event called to mind her mother, an Army veteran; Marrero said in the days leading up to the ceremony, she was inspired to have more conversations with her mother about her military service.

This year’s ceremony was held earlier in the day to make it more accessible for students and employees, and crowds filled the dozens of chairs and lined the Memorial Union’s north courtyard. The area was adorned with 136 American flags, one for each Gold Star Aggie.

The names of those Aggies were read aloud at the ceremony by a group of veterans and military dependents.

Roberto Herrera, a UC Davis alum who serves as California’s deputy secretary for veterans services, said the losses remembered on Memorial Day are a reminder to support all veterans.

“We honor their memory by serving those who stood by them,” he said of military deaths, before reading a Memorial Day proclamation by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Jose Roa, a career advisor in the Career Center and a 10-year veteran of the Army, was one of the people who volunteered to read aloud the names of the Gold Star Aggies.

He said he seeks to help veterans through his work at the Career Center by reminding them of the ways their military experience and skills can be transferred to the civilian workforce.

“Coming up with ways to serve veterans is always No. 1 in my mind,” he said.

Dalena Huynh, an MBA student at the Graduate School of Management, was another of the readers at the ceremony. A veteran of the Coast Guard, she said the event was a chance to give back, and to “reflect back on the people who gave their life in service.”

Keynote speaker Dr. Arthur B. Dublin, an emeritus professor of radiology at UC Davis Health, said members of the military also seek to help others at every turn.

He recalled his time as a doctor with the Navy, where he was able to identify a young boy’s appendicitis and get him on a military helicopter to a nearby hospital. The next day, Dublin received a call from First Lady Pat Nixon asking about the boy’s condition.

Dublin said that commitment to help others was something he saw throughout his time in the military.

“Their goal was to help people, period — no matter what it took,” Dublin said of service members he met and worked with.