Veterans Memorials Of The Mother Lode

Freedom is Never Free, Veterans Memorials of the Mother Lode By Sarah Lunsford “For those who fight for it, freedom has a flavor the protected will never know,” one anonymous Khe Sanh veteran said. All around the world, the United States has men and women serving our country and keeping us free. They provide the first line of defense so that our soil, our country, our nation is safe and we can sleep peacefully in our beds at night. As the saying goes freedom is not free and those who have served have paid for our freedoms with their own lives, whether it be for a time out of their lives or with their very lifeblood itself. In the Mother Lode we are privileged to have many veterans who call the Sierra Foothills their home. According to the California Department of Veterans Affairs about 4,600 veterans live in Amador County, about 5,900 veterans live in Calaveras County and 7,400 veterans live in Tuolumne County. Along with the veterans themselves, there are many veterans organizations, like the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, that not only help to support each other and provide places where they and those who have not served can remember where they have been and what they have done, but seek to make the Mother Lode a better place. Memorials serve as a place for those who have and have not served to remember. To remember what has been done, to remember where we have been along with where we are and to remember what the price has been and continues to be. In Tuolumne there are many veterans’ memorials with two of the most prominent places being a Vietnam Veterans Memorial that sits in front of the county library on Greenly Way, and the many memorials that sit in front of and are located inside the Veterans Military Museum on Washington Street in downtown Sonora. Built in 1991, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was a collaborative effort led by Frank Smart that resulted in the memorial being built in front of the Tuolumne County Library. Smart was in the U.S. Army from 1964 to 1971. He served in Vietnam in the First Calvary Air Mobile Unit from 1968 to 1969 in the field as an Army journalist. “They were all good years, except that one year when I had to duck a lot, he said. “I was a good ducker.” “It’s a source of great pride (that) I served my country during a time of great stress, great upheaval,” said Smart. Smart is a tireless advocate for veterans, coming alongside those who have served and showing them what benefits they have earned from the Veterans Administration. The design of the memorial at the Tuolumne County Library was chosen through a competition process and when the winning designer said he was unable to build the memorial another veteran stepped up to the plate to get the job done. Gereon Rios, an acclaimed artist and designer, came in to erect the memorial.

The Veterans Military Museum is a highly visible building downtown not only because of its location across from the Tuolumne County Courthouse, but because of its many memorials that sit out in front. Memorials ranging from a U.S. Navy 20mm anti-aircraft gun that sits in front of the museum to plaques that dot the premise honor veterans for their service from World War II through to the Persian Gulf War. Going inside the Veterans Military Museum is like a walk down a military memory lane with displays areas that start at the Spanish American War and go all the way to the Iraq War. Displays include uniforms, photos, letters, flags and weapons that have been donated by those who have served or their families. The exhibits are always changing and being added to as more items are donated. A soon to become a reality memorial honoring all those that have served will be built in front of the Veterans Affairs Sonora Medical Clinic. The Vietnam Veterans of America, Post 391 has taken the lead on the building of this memorial which will include memorial bricks inscribed with veterans names from each of the four branches of the military along with those who served as Merchant Marines. As with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in front of the Tuolumne County Library, both Frank Smart and Gereon Rios are involved with the building of this new memorial to honor those that have served. “This one actually makes a memorial of all the departments of defense for what they do,” Rios said. Rios is a Vietnam Veteran who served in the U.S. Army from 1967 to 1969, and was in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968. “I had many, many jobs,” he said. Those jobs included being the editor and illustrator for the newspaper, along with serving as the Commanding Generals Secretary. When he came back to Fort Knox, he was honored for his efforts by being awarded a Bronze Star. Rios has been an artist since he was a child, using his talent not only in the military but afterwards as well. He designed the seal for the City of Fremont and still teaches painting and drawing at Columbia College. Rios has both designed the new memorial and is taking the lead in its construction. “I like to go back in history to tie an historical element to a contemporary time” said Rios. That combination led him to consider the Old West and the Pioneers who lived during that time, taking from that era the six-shooter, also called the peacemaker and incorporating it into the design of the memorial. Made of brushed stainless steel, the memorial will feature the cylinder of the six-shooter with the insignias and logo’s from the military branches topped with the talons of an eagle holding the cylinder. It will be surrounded buy brick pavers inscribed with veterans names. The bricks honoring individuals who have served is an integral part of the memorial. “The names make it real,” said Smart. “It puts it in real terms of men and women living and dead.”

In Calaveras two Civil War era cannon have been incorporated into a veteran’s memorial at the Government Center in San Andreas. Built in 2007, the memorial sits to the side of the main quad where every person that goes to do business there looks over and had the opportunity to remember what has been done on their behalf. The cannons sit in either side of a marble wall that is inscribed with the names of Calaveras County veterans. The memorial was built as part of a Boy Scout Eagle Scout project by Drake Walker, and was funded in part by donations from veterans groups like the Angels Camp Veterans Memorial District. The Ebbetts Pass Veterans Memorial District is building a veterans memorial wall across from Murphys Park next to the creek in Murphys. “(We’re building the memorial) to honor, to help veterans and their families,” said Albert Napier, Ebbetts Pass Veterans Memorial District board member. Napier is a Korean War veteran who served from 1949 to 1953. He was a shipboard electrician in the U.S. Navy and as he puts it, he was in Guam, came home and was sent out by Truman for another year. During his time in service he was awarded the Korean Ribbon and the Bronze Star. “Mainly pride,” he said. “The main thing is the pride that I have (in being a veteran).” The veteran’s memorial wall will hold 500 bricks dedicated to individual’s who have served in the branches of the military and the Merchant Marines when it is finished. The individual bricks honoring individuals hold a special meaning in the memorial. “Here’s a permanent memorial to someone,” said Napier. “That 30-years from now, people will look at the bricks and remember. It’s something that will last a long, long time.” Being a veteran is generational for Napier, he’s purchased three bricks, one for himself and the other two for his son and grandson all of whom served in the U.S Navy. Cement artist Ryan Van Cleve designed the memorial which will feature not only the memorial wall, but also benches for people to sit and reflect along with a monument with bronze plaques for each branch. “It’s an honor to be part of this memorial honoring veterans,” said Van Cleve. Amador County is the home to many memorials honoring veterans that range from memorial built on the Argonaut High school campus in 1983 to memorials at the Sunset View and Amador Memorial cemeteries, along with the flagpole memorial at the Veterans Memorial Park in Pioneer. The Sutter Creek Memorial Rock honors veterans from three wars and occupies a prominent place in the popular town sitting on a grassy strip on Main Street. There are four bronze plaques on the rock that each memorialize a different war, World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Each plaque is inscribed with the names of Amador County veterans from that particular war. Amador County is home to one veteran’s memorial district which still collects funds that can only be used for veteran’s issues. The county is also home to one of the largest American Legion posts in California that is very active in honoring veterans and the community. “We’re the third largest post in the State of California,” said Floyd Martin, Amador County Veterans Services Officer.

Martin is an Air Force veteran who served during Vietnam from 1960 to 1964. That American Legion Post 108 for is responsible for the veteran’s memorial at the Amador Memorial Cemetery. Although there are many memorials that dot the landscape in the Mother Lode, from Tuolumne into Amador, many veterans go back to Washington DC to see the memorials to veterans that reside in our capitol. Mike Preston is a Vietnam Veteran who takes other Vietnam combat veterans back to the Vietnam Memorial Wall in DC. Preston served from 1967 to 1968 as an engineer in the Navy who fought with the Marine Corp. He was in the Siege of Khe Sanh, a battle for the Khe Sanh Combat Base that has been called the single most brutal battle of the Vietnam War in which approximately 6,000 U.S. troops held off around 35,000 North Vietnamese for 77 days and saved the base. He went back to the nation’s capitol in 2001 to see the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, also known as The Wall. “I went back there the first time with my brother to see The Wall,” he said. It was that experience that led him to decide to take other Vietnam combat veterans back to see The Wall and the other sights that the capitol has to offer. “The Wall is a healing thing. It has been for me too,” he said. During these weeklong trips, Preston takes up to 14 veterans that have been disabled in Vietnam through the capitol where he tries to fit in all the high points of D.C. This often includes 12 hour days to see it all. “People don’t understand the amount of stuff (there is) to see in our capitol,” Preston said. “especially where it pertains to veterans. These guys, it’s the only chance, probably they’re ever going to have (to see the capitol).” Preston looks for veterans that may want to go to The Wall and experience the nation’s capitol, by working with V.A. counselors and keeping his eyes and ears open. This is not an easy feat because many Vietnam Veterans have shunned society. “The Vietnam Veterans were pretty forgotten,” he said. With the passage of time that has changed. During one trip back to the capitol Preston said he was reading one his brothers poems about the war (his brother was a platoon 60-gunner in Vietnam) when the stewardess asked him what he was reading and he told her explaining about the trip. Not long after, the pilot interrupted the mid-flight movie to announce that Preston and his group of Vietnam combat veterans were on the plane. The other passengers broke out into applause for the group. “It was 36 years late, but it felt great,” said Preston. It’s never too late to remember and be thankful for what veterans have done for our country. One way to do this is to stop at the many memorials around the Mother Lode and take the time to reflect on what being a veteran means and what veterans have done. “Any of us who served the country and wore that uniform are very proud,” said Martin. “I took an oath to protect, to defend my country against all enemies, foreign and domestic and I haven’t forgotten,” said Preston. Those words are reflective of many United States veterans all over the country and around the world and the commitment they have made to our country. They are words we all need to reflect on and never forget.