PORT TOWNSEND — Monday’s commemoration of Memorial Day at the American Legion post drew the largest crowd in several years.

Approximately 250 people attended to pay respect to those in the military who gave their lives for their country.

Before the ceremony, Post Cmdr. Joe Carey said he expected about 150 attendees and was later surprised to see so many late arrivals.

Same mix of attendees

He said each year’s ceremony attracts the same mix of veterans and sympathetic civilians.

“I come here every Memorial Day and see people that I haven’t seen all year,” said Emily Anderson, who used to head the Ladies Auxiliary.

On Monday, there was a rededication of an interpretive sign that emphasizes the roots of the Port Townsend Legion post’s namesake, Marvin G. Shields, who received the Medal of Honor posthumously.

“Marvin was like a lot of men and women in the military,” said Tex Lewis, who spoke at the rededication.

“He was doing everything he could in order to support his friends.”

A Navy Seabee from Discovery Bay, Shields was shot twice while his team constructed a bridge on June 10, 1965, at Dong Xoai, Vietnam.

Despite his wounds, he carried a wounded soldier to safety and volunteered to help knock out a Viet Cong machine gun.

Only Seabee

Shields, who died of his wounds after he and others succeeded in destroying the gun emplacement, is the only Seabee to be given the Medal of Honor.

Shields’ sacrifice was understood and appreciated by members of Monday’s audience, even though few actually knew him.

The exception was his widow, Joan Bennett.

“This is very painful,” she said after visiting the redesigned memorial.

“For years, I would get this terrible feeling every time June was approaching, and I didn’t really know why.

“But it’s when Marvin died, in June, and it took about 10 years before the pain went away.”

These days, Bennett does what she can to keep Shields’ name alive.

He has already left his mark as his granddaughter, Sarah Elizabeth Woods, was scheduled to sing at Carnegie Hall in New York City on Monday night as part of a high school choir.

Throughout the service, attendees were reminded of the special sacrifices of the military; those who survived and those who gave their lives for their country.

“It’s important that we remember those who have served,” said the post’s chaplain, Bob Gray, “because the government often forgets who we are, even at the highest level.”

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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.