California XXXII

 

Santa Maria is about 2 and a half hours north of Los Angeles and you could spend a lot of that trip cruising up the Pacific Coastal Highway (PCH) a trip everyone should make at least once in their lives.

You will need to leave the PCH at about Santa Barbara to head a bit inland to Santa Maria.

 

The memorial called the Freedom Monument Veterans Memorial sits outside the Abel Maldonaldo Youth Community Center.

 

 

It came about because of casual conversation between a mother and a local official. Her son was lost in Nam and she feared that after she was gone, no one would remember him.

 

The memorial, like so many, has grown and become more inclusive over time, now honoring many from the area. This seems to be in keeping with the founding principle of Vietnam Veterans of America: "Never again will one generation of Veterans abandon another."

 

This site has more to see and I will come back to it at a not too distant future time.

The Community Center is located at 600 S. McClelland Street.

Next time around I hope to have gotten back to Delaware. I have tracked down a few more sites in "The First State" and will share one with you on the 31st, so join me then, as usual, at 9:00am.

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