California XXVI

Eleven or so miles east of Los Angeles, out route 10, is the city of Rosemead. previously, I have written about Rosemead because of the unique and beautiful 911 memorial in the city.

Today, however, I will tell you about the Vietnam memorial on the grounds of the City Hall.

You can see part of the 911 memorial behind this one.

The flags were dancing in the wind.

It is a not huge memorial, but honors the six men from the city who died in Vietnam. The names are hard to see and read because the beautiful flowers were in full bloom the day I visited.

You can just see some of the names along the bottom of the memorial

I wondered inside City Hall and got talking to one of the guys that works there. He was telling me about how this memorial was dedicated in 1989 replacing a much older one. I said something about being sorry that I had missed the older one. He said for me to wait a minute and he disappeared down a hall. A few minutes later he returned carrying the older memorial. He carried it out side and placed it on the ground where I could take a picture of it. What a great, reverent, and kind thing for him to do.

As you can see it is quite small, but notice that date:April 1968, the same month and year that I came home from 'Nam.

The names, as I said, are nearly invisible this time of year;

Michael Shands

Michael Craig

Dale Blume

Ramiro Moro

John Lewis

Tommy Thomas

I have heard it said that if one dies alone they will be forgotten, not these men, these heroes, these remembered here, forever.

Next time, on the 3rd of May, we will return to Florida, so meet me there, as always, at 9:00am.

To see other memorials from California, or any other state, please click the state name on the left side of this page.

September 11, 2012

Last year it seemed "not quite right" to write about Vietnam memorials on 9/11. I remembered that I had photographed a couple of 9/11 memorials along my journeys and decided  to honor and remember those lost on this fateful day in our history instead. 11 of my neighbors were lost at the Pentagon and in their memory, as well as all the others, I posted a couple of pics of some of  the ones I have seen. Below are the names of those who were lost from my area at the Pentagon;

William Edward Caswell
Dr. Gerald Paul Fisher
Capt. Lawrence D. Getzfred
Michele M. Heidenberger
Angela Marie Houtz
Teddington Hamm Moy
Lt. Darin H. Pontell
Scott A. Powell
Todd Hayes Reuben
Patricia J. Statz
Ernest M. Willcher

You can see last years post by clicking on last September in the list to the right of this page and then scrolling back to the post.

The above memorial is in Rosemead, California. Located near the Vietnam memorial at the city hall it immediately caught my attention. A piece of the World Trade Center is supported by two hands made up of individual birds. There are 2976 doves, exactly the same number of birds as victims on 9/11. The birds were cut from sheets of stainless steel and then hand formed  by the artist so that each one fit perfectly into its place. This part of the project, alone, took nearly 5 months and the artist is quoted as saying "Every time I got tired of bending metal, I remembered that each bird was a human life" and that kept him going. Dedicated on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, this memorial along with the Vietnam memorial and others will soon be relocated to a new plaza that is under construction in the city. The marker for the memorial was in storage, in prep for the move, when I was there. The head of the Parks Dept was kind enough to go get it so I could photograph it, too.  Thanks again!

Back to 'Nam sites on the 14th. Join me at Aberdeen, South Dakota at 9:00am