MEET THIS YEAR’S GRAND MARSHAL , USMC COMBAT VETERAN RAYMOND OROZCO
We asked Raymond Orozco what he hopes people take time to do on the long Memorial Day weekend and he replied “ This is not an easy question. But what I would ask people do — along with the fun and activities with friends — is please take a moment to reflect on the people our country lost that this holiday is meant to commemorate.
“I am not asking you to pity them. They would not ask that of us. These men were volunteers , and tough warriors …none were helpless victims. They also were the finest Americans I ever met. These were men whose compassion and conviction meant they would give you advice at 2 AM on how to be a better Dad; they helped push you up a hill when when they saw you weak with exhaustion and unable to make it alone. And they did this and in spite of their own deep fatigue. But they also would make fun of you, fight with you and cry with you.
They had all the best attributes you want to emulate and to see in your fellow neighbor. “
From the age of 18, Raymond Orozco has served on frontlines, side by side with those who risk and are willing to give their lives protecting others.
Tribute banners along the race route honor USMC Darkhorse Marines brothers, a number of whom he counted as close friends.
Raymond first ran our city race alongside other Darkhorse Marines the spring of 2011 shortly after the Battalion returned from their combat deployment to Afghanistan. Laguna Hills City Council had just voted to name the race in honor of our city’s adopted 3rdBattalion, 5thMarines.
“The marathon was extremely touching,” he recalls. “Seeing the community and runners come together to support 3/5 on Memorial Day left a lasting impression on me.”
Raymond contacted us shortly after that first race to volunteer at a Tribute Concert Team Darkhorse and the HOA held in Gallup park. He brought together a work party of veterans to help. Throughout his service at Camp Pendleton, Raymond made himself available to assist Team Darkhorse when he could.
Following his discharge from the Marine Corps, Raymond continued serving on frontlines with Breckenridge Hotshots on the Sequoia National forest; Asheville Hotshots in North Carolina and Vandenberg Handcrew in California. He fought fires from Florida, Nevada, Georgia, Idaho, California, Utah and some others in between. In August of 2021 he began work as a federal structural firefighter at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, NM where he currently resides with his wife Mel.
We are grateful to have him here with us, to remind us of the great men and women who have fought and given their lives for our country — not only in Iraq and Afghanistan, but all the prior conflicts during which good men and women stood up and gave their lives that others might live.
