SAN FERNANDO : War Memorials to Be United at One Site

The plaques and markers commemorating veterans used to be scattered around San Fernando like the debris of a battlefield. Next week, they will be united in a small plot of grass beside a Veterans of Foreign Wars post.

Veterans will unearth a stone marker dedicated to World War I veterans from its resting place in San Fernando Recreation Park, remove an eternal flame that no longer burns from the Civic Center’s old police station and move an inscribed granite block from City Hall, said Angel Perez, spokesman for VFW Post 3834.

“We just felt it’s time we moved these monuments to their rightful place,” said Perez, a veteran of two tours of duty in Vietnam.

“It’s just a grassy area, maybe 50 or 80 feet by 20 feet, beside the post. It’ll be turned into a little memorial park,” Perez said.

In years past, veterans usually gathered at City Hall on Veterans Day for short speeches and then broke for lunch at nearby VFW or American Legion halls.

“We felt we deserved a little more,” Perez said. So, last year, veterans groups held a wreath-laying at the Vietnam Memorial marker at San Fernando City Hall.

This year, ceremonies will include a fly-over by vintage aircraft from the Condor Squadron based in Van Nuys, Perez said. He expects about 300 people to attend the ceremonies that begin at noon Thursday at the VFW post, 111 N. Hager St.

San Fernando has about 500 active members in its American Legion and VFW posts, said Perez, and many more veterans who are not active.

In fact, most of the labor and a good deal of the materials for the small park have been donated by veterans, with help from the City Council and Utter McKinley Mortuary.

The post still is seeking about $2,000 in donations to pay for three flagpoles at the site.

Meanwhile, workers are scrambling to move the memorials and prepare the site for Thursday’s celebration.

“There’s a possibility that some of the things won’t be in place, but we’ll do it in steps,” Perez said.