marines

The streets were full of residents and visitors in the holiday spirit Wednesday, waving flags and dressed in red, white and blue as the annual 4th of July Parade made its way through South Lake Tahoe. Led by the Marine Band San Diego, the over 200 entries in the parade included children, dancers, cyclists, classic cars and floats delighted those along the route.

An estimaed 4,000 people watched the show, an estimate provided to the City from the Marines as they have to document attendence at events they participate in.

The City of South Lake Tahoe is honored to announce the Marine Band San Diego Marching Band will be in the 4th of July Parade on Wednesday, July 4th at 10:00 a.m. The parade will be immediately followed by a celebratory BBQ benefiting local American Legion Post 795 and performances by the Marine Band San Diego. The BBQ and performances will be held at Bijou Community Park located at 1201 Al Tahoe Blvd.

Have you heard, or seen, military helicopters around South Lake Tahoe the last few days? The U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Miramar is conducting training using the MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft at the Lake Tahoe Airport from October 11 until at least October 18.

At first, their plans were to station 12 aircraft at the airport until October 30, so final training plans may have changed. They will also be using a meeting room and hangar at the airport for training purposes.

The Marine Light Attack Helicopter Training and Open House for the U.S. Marine Corps Squadron 303 has been postponed due to being deployed on a mission. A future date has not been scheduled at this time.

The USMS had previously been scheduled to be in South Lake Tahoe on a thirteen day training mission July 27 – August 8.

The Friends of the Veterans Monument will hold its annual El Dorado County Veterans Day Ceremony on November 11th at the El Dorado County Veterans Monument, 360 Fair Lane, Placerville.
The ceremony commences precisely at 11 a.m. with the call to order and present colors. The singing of our National Anthem follows, during which the distant rumbling of vintage radial engines will be heard as a flight of WWII-era war birds approaches the monument.

There will be a low level fly over of vintage military aircraft in the Green Valley area of El Dorado County on August 19, 2012 at 6:30 PM. The flyover is being conducted to honor our fallen hero Marine Staff Sergeant Skye Mote and his family. The flyover will be in conjunction with Graveside Services.
Staff Sergeant Mote was 27 and a nine-year veteran of the Marine Corps, when he was one of three special operations Marines killed August 10th by an Afghan police officer in Afghanistan's Helmand province.

A gunman who opened fire inside a Carson City restaurant has torn a hole through the South Lake Tahoe community, taking the life of a long-time local woman, maiming her disabled husband, and sending shock waves in the community after learning the gunman has family business ties in town.
The brutal murder that happened inside the International House of Pancakes this week claimed the lives of three U.S. Army National Guard personnel and Lake Tahoe Keys resident Florence Donovan-Gunderson, 67. Shooter Eduardo Sencion, 32, of Carson City turned the automatic weapon he was packing on himself and left both communities stunned and asking questions about why such a senseless act of violence happened.