A School Remembers

Santa Ana High School paid a pre-Memorial Day tribute Friday to its alumni who havegone on to serve in the U.S. armed forces.

“It is with great honor that we respect and recognize the great contributions our students have made over the past 100 years,” Andrew Hernandez, the school’s principal, said before about 60 guests.

Unveiled were two plaques honoring Santa Ana High students who fought in Vietnam and Korea. Former students who fought in one of America’s four wars in this century were also honored. They included Fred Rosenbaum, a 92-year-old veteran of World War I, who attended the school from 1913 to 1915.

Marine Corps Brig. Gen. David V. Shuter, commanding general of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, was the keynote speaker at the 45-minute program. Shuter said that while Memorial Day means “barbecues, hot dogs, ballgames and . . . the Indy 500” for some people, “many civilians, and we in the military, demand that the sacrifices made, in war or in peacetime, are not made in vain.”

By holding the tribute, Shuter said, Santa Ana High was “refusing to allow their contribution to be dimmed by history.”

Five students who were either members of the school band or the Navy Junior ROTC unit--including one student who fainted--required treatment after standing in the sun during the program. None was seriously hurt, a school administrator said.