Pahrump Valley Times

Town officials are inviting the entire community to two Veterans’ Day observances over the weekend.

The first ceremony will be held at Chief Tecopa Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

Local Marine Corps veteran Jose Tellas said town officials will be on hand for the dedication of the Veterans’ Columbarium.

“We have it all ready to go; the procedures are already established and were given to the Town of Pahrump. The columbarium looks very nice. The town board will be there as well as the Pahrump Veterans Advisory Board,” he said.

The second observance will be held at the Pahrump Nugget on Sunday at noon and will feature several speakers, including Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo, who will provide the keynote address.

Tellas said the event will also have a military identification tag ritual.

“One of the Vietnam veterans will hang the ID tag on the fallen soldier’s statue and we will also have a squad of men on each side of Tony DeMeo. One will be holding a wreath and will place it on the statue with a salute. They will then back out and three volleys will be fired from the army squad,” he said.

Tellas said the observance will also feature a special event towards the end of the ceremony.

“After we have our opening prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance first, there will be a military flyover. It was confirmed a few days ago. I spoke to a gentleman at Nellis Air Force Base and I will be getting a call from one of the pilots to let me know about the final coordination. There will be two F-15s and basically they will be flying over at 12:20 and it will be really, really neat,” he said.

The ceremony will be held at the entrance where the yellow ribbon is located.

Military veterans also get to take advantage of the many recreational opportunities at Death Valley National Park this weekend where all national park units will waive entrance fees in honor of the nation’s veterans.

For more information, call 760 786-3200.