GI Killed in Panama, Others Who Gave Lives Honored

Despite overcast skies and chilling winds, more than 100 people gathered in a courtyard of the Civic Center Monday evening for a Memorial Day ceremony at the Orange County Veterans Memorial.

Among those honored was Army Pfc. Roy Dennis Brown Jr., a 19-year-old Buena Park soldier who was killed last year during the first stage of the U.S. invasion of Panama. He was one of 23 U.S. soldiers to die in the fighting that led to the surrender of Panamanian dictator Manuel A. Noriega.

“I didn’t get a chance to attend his funeral so I wanted to come to something like this to pay my last respects to him,” said Kelly Herald, a classmate of Brown at Magnolia High School in Anaheim. “He died for me and this country--we can’t forget that.”

In a welcoming address, Santa Ana City Councilman Richards L. Norton stressed that the 325 Orange County residents who have given their lives in wars over the decades did not do so in vain.

“The price for freedom is a heavy burden for this country and the cost of the lives of loved ones can cast a shadow over our hearts,” Norton said. “But we cannot measure freedom by dollars and cents. We pay the price with our hearts.”

Along with the traditional posting of the colors by cadets from the Mater Dei High School Air Force Junior ROTC, U.S. Rep. C. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) read to the audience from the last letter written by Brown to his mother, Julie Otto. During the ceremony, Otto quietly wept as words of praise were spoken about her son.

B.T. Collins, chief deputy state treasurer, said in a keynote address that he was dismayed with the portrayal of Vietnam veterans in the recent hit motion picture, “Born on the Fourth of July.” Collins said the movie too often characterized veterans as angry, resentful and selfish.

“It disturbs me to see that type of representation of veterans,” said Collins, who fought there and was wounded. “Ninety percent of the men who went to Vietnam would do it again today. When I received my artificial leg and arm, it was a happy milestone; it meant I was on the road to recovery. We men weren’t selfish--we helped one another because we knew someone had helped us.”

At the end of the ceremony a series of wreaths were laid at the memorial.

“I lost my brother more than 20 years ago, and it still seems just like yesterday,” said Florence Hurt of Huntington Beach. “But it’s days like this one and events like this one that lets me know I don’t cry alone.”