Los Osos Valley Memorial Park was filled with American flags and community members who came out to honor those who served on Veterans Day.
Some placed flowers for those who rest there, while others recounted stories of the past, and a flyover took place in the sky overhead.
Something new at this years ceremony was the 805 Nurse Honor Guard, a group of retired and active nurses who come together to honor veterans.
The group dressed in traditional nursing uniforms from after World War I.
If you needed help, youd flip your robe back or your cape back, and the red meant come and help me so that they would help you with a patient there,” said Christine Claxton, 805 Honor Guard nurse.
Claxton told KSBY News the nurse honor guard formed in May and has done five tributes so far throughout the county.
On this day, they honored a Navy veteran they happen to know very well.
He was my mentor, so Im honored to honor him today, but I learned so much from him,” Claxton said.
Bruce Cikowski was a corpsman who served in Vietnam.
They were shooting rockets night and day. They shot over our hospital, which was made of sandbags,” Cikowski said.
After his service, Cikowski came to San Luis Obispo, where he continued to apply the skills he learned as a corpsman working with local patients in the ICU.
Learned how to do surgery stuff; did a lot of medical treatments at French Hospital, Cikowski said.
Claxton says that the way he cared for patients was different.
He saw each patient as an individual, and that was something that really resonated through all his care, Claxton said.
Cikowski is now retired and says the tribute meant a lot to him.