250 years of service honored at Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial
People gathered atop the Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial on Saturday to celebrate 250 years of the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy. The ceremony also paid tribute to the nation’s veterans.
The 2025 Veterans Day Ceremony was attended by San Diego city leadership, including Mayor Todd Gloria and City Council President Joe LaCava, as well as veterans from both branches of the armed forces.
“They were willing to give of themselves, to give everything they had to sacrifice themselves, and at times their families and their fortunes for a glimpse of what America could be. Now we know what America is,” said retired Sergeant Major Mark O’Loughlin, who served 30 years in the Marine Corps.
That sentiment was echoed by many of O’Loughlin’s fellow veterans, including retired Lieutenant Colonel Tony Anthony, who took time after the ceremony to pay tribute to his fallen brothers in arms.
“This is my 70th Marine Corps birthday,” said Anthony. “It’s always a tough time to come up here. There’s such a thing as survivor’s guilt, we all suffer from it,” Anthony added.
Anthony is one of the designers of the roughly 6,700 memorial plaques that are placed around Mt. Soledad. Two of them include fellow members from his former USMC battalions that he served with.
“It’s an honor and privilege to live in this country. Don’t take it for granted. Freedom is not free,” said Anthony.
The ceremony came ahead of Veterans Day, which falls on Tuesday, November 11. This year’s Veterans Day Parade will also honor 80 years since the end of WWII. It gets underway at 10 a.m. starting along Harbor Drive in downtown. You can watch the parade in person or stream with NBC 7.
