More than 100 veterans sat in a semi-circle before a stage in the Los Angeles National Cemetery in Westwood on Thursday, listening to performers and speakers honoring the memory of former President Abraham Lincoln.
Among the veterans were Westwood community members and students, who gathered to celebrate of the former president’s 200th birthday at the 17th Annual Abraham Lincoln Remembrance.
Matthew Byrne, who attended UCLA as an undergraduate and later attended UC Davis School of Law, spoke of Lincoln in a patriotic address.
“Lincoln was a master with words. He moved people to action,” Byrne said.
He added that Lincoln, like the veterans of America, will not be forgotten.
Jason Bezis, one of the event planners, said in an e-mailed statement that the University of California owes its existence to a law that Lincoln signed.
In 1862, President Lincoln signed the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act, which set aside federal land for the benefit of land-grant colleges, he said in the statement. The proceeds thus provided funding for the UC in its early years.
Not far from the UCLA campus, the crowd gathered among the graves of the cemetery to hear a series of speeches covering Lincoln’s life, along with a recitation of the Gettysburg Address by veteran and actor Mickey Rooney.
Before delivering the address, Rooney described Lincoln with a few shorts words.
“There are so many things for us to learn from Mr. Lincoln,” he said, adding that the address is dear to the hearts of many Americans.
Students from Abraham Lincoln, Birmingham and Hollywood high schools attended the remembrance event.
Event founder Duke Russell said the annual event was held in part to encourage those students to learn through reading, as he said Lincoln did.
He said Lincoln is in an outstanding role model.
Rebecca Vail, Russell’s granddaughter and a Santa Barbara High School student, also addressed the crowd.
She said she found it inspirational how one person could change the lives of so many.
Gilberto Martinez, a government teacher at Lincoln High School, brought his class to the event and said it’s important for his students to know the history behind their school’s namesake and to know what kind of a person Lincoln was.
Mary Alido, a senior who is enrolled in Martinez’s class, said she learned about Lincoln’s life from the event, adding that she planned to read more following the 16th president’s example.
Russell first organized the event in 1993 because of what he felt was a lack of awareness about the holiday, he said. Initially held at the Hollywood Bowl, it began with few attendees and primarily consisted of Russell reading the Gettysburg Address.
In 1995 the memorial moved to the Los Angeles National Cemetery and has grown since, adding to its speakers and scheduled portions of the event, Russell said.
Though California is among the states that observe Lincoln’s birthday as a holiday, Bezis said in a statement, the UC is the only state institution that does not close for “Lincoln Day.”