YORBA LINDA (CNS) - A ceremony marking the 112th anniversary of the birth of Richard M. Nixon is scheduled for Friday at the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.
The ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. with the laying of a wreath sent by President Joe Biden at the memorials of the 37th president and his wife Pat.
Featured speakers sharing stories and insights about Nixon's life and contributions include U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Robert Nowakowski, the deputy commander of the Naval Education and Training Command-Force Development, and Fred Mendoza, a member of Nixon's Cabinet Committee on Spanish-Speaking People.
Navy Band Southwest will perform a musical tribute to Nixon. There will be a formal presentation of the colors by members of the U.S. Marine Corps.
Admission will be free at the library on Friday. It will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Nixon served on active duty in the Navy during World War II, rising to the rank of lieutenant commander. He was released from active duty in 1946, and promoted to commander in the Naval Reserve in 1953. He retired from the Naval Reserve in 1966.
The ceremony will be one day after the anniversary of Nixon's birth on Jan. 9, 1913, because Biden declared Thursday as a national day of mourning for former President Jimmy Carter.
Nixon was born in a house built by his father from a mail-order construction kit. It still stands on the library's grounds in Yorba Linda which was his family's lemon ranch when Nixon was born.