Hundreds of people traveled thousands of miles to be in Oak Harbor Thursday morning.

The first-of-its-kind Patrol Squadron Memorial was dedicated to aircrews past and present, and presented to the Oak Harbor community, in a dignified and emotional ceremony at the Veterans Park on East Pioneer Way. It began with a flyover by a P-3 Orion.

Linda MacDonald and her husband, Bob, flew to Oak Harbor from California to be at the ceremony with their two daughters. Linda said they came to the event in memory of her brother Dale Armour, whose name is engraved in a granite wall of the memorial along with the 84 other servicemen who lost their lives in Whidbey-based patrol squadron operations.

The memorial has deep meaning for the family.

“It’s a culmination,” Linda said. “It’s closure. It gives us a place to come now to remember him.”

Armour, a 22-year-old member of VP-42, was in a VP2 Neptune aircraft that disappeared while on patrol in Alaska in 1967. The site of the crash wasn’t found until 16 years later.

The MacDonald family was among more than 600 people who attended the ceremony. It coincided with a reunion of Patrol Squadron Two Association, which is the group behind the memorial.

Capt. David Taylor, Commander of Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 10, spoke passionately during the ceremony about the history of the Navy’s patrol and reconnaissance squadrons, which is a history inextricably linked to Oak Harbor. The first patrol squadron at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station flew PBY Catalinas in the 1940s.

Taylor spoke about how patrol squadrons helped to win the Cold War by “playing a cat-and-mouse game” with Soviet submarines and planes.

“Anywhere we could chase the enemy bear, we wore the enemy down,” he said.

Yet Taylor said the patrol mission is still valid today, even with the end of the Cold War.

“This is a time of great challenge and change to the patrol and reconnaissance squadrons,” he said, “our Navy and our nation.”

Taylor also spoke about the bronze statue of a 1960s era airman, which is the centerpiece of the memorial.

“I see a proud warrior of the past,” he said, “but I also see in his face the warrior of the present.”

Floyd Palmer, president of the Patrol Squadron Two Association, turned over ownership of the memorial to the citizens of Oak Harbor with an official presentation to Mayor Patty Cohen.

Afterward, Palmer explained that the effort to build a memorial started when he took a tour of Whidbey Island Naval Air Station more than six years ago and realized that there was nothing to recognize patrol squadrons. It took the work of many members of the association and money from many generous donors to finally make his dream a reality.

During her speech, Cohen said the patrol squadrons didn’t receive as much recognition as others in the military because “their missions were always classified,” but she said they were definitely “so deserving of a permanent place in town.”

The Northwest Navy Ceremonial Band ended the ceremony by playing Taps. Afterward, the audience got the chance to look at the memorial close up.

Robert Lenson, a member of the VP-2 association, attended the event with his wife, Raye. He was the skipper of VP-17 in 1964.

Husband and wife agreed that such a memorial was long overdue.

“It means a great deal,” Raye said. “We mourn the loss of crewmates. This recognition is important.”