Honor on Mount Diablo

Thanks to a California Legionnaire, Memorial Day and Veterans Day will be added to the calendar of lighting a mountaintop beacon to honor veterans.

The top of Mount Diablo, near San Francisco Bay, features a beacon originally lit in 1928 as an aid to commercial aviation. It was lit nightly until Dec. 8, 1941, in the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack; since 1964, it has been lit every Dec. 7 to commemorate its survivors and casualties.

Alan Kalin is a member of American Legion Post 246 in Danville, Calif., and in November he approached Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors Chapter 5 – which organizes the Dec. 7 lightings – to add the two additional holidays. After discussions with his post, California State Parks, Save Mount Diablo and elected representatives – the beacon is located in Mount Diablo State Park – the expanded calendar was agreed on, and a joint proclamation was signed on Feb. 25 at the Veterans Memorial Building in Danville.

Kalin says Post 246 will begin providing advice and support for Chapter 5 on their observances. This Memorial Day, Save Mount Diablo will light the beacon on the summit at sunset (8:23 p.m.) to honor the men and women who died while in the U.S. military. A small group of veterans will salute while taps is sounded at the summit.