GLENDALE : College Honors Veterans With War Memorial

As students and administrators unveiled Glendale Community College’s newest war memorial Tuesday, Pio Bigornia watched with pride.

Bigornia, 79, who immigrated to the United States from the Philippines 10 years ago, works as a custodian at the college and wasn’t aware that the memorial plaque--which honors soldiers killed in Beirut, Somalia, Grenada, Panama and the Persian Gulf--was being presented.

But he instantly became a featured guest at the brief dedication ceremony when organizers learned he spent 30 years in the Philippine army, including a stint fighting alongside American soldiers to rid his country of Japanese invaders.

“I appreciate anything that’s done to honor the veterans,” Bigornia said. “I know what they went through.”

The memorial plaque, designed by art student Bryan Ramos and built by Todd Olson, a former student, will hang at the college’s main entrance, where tributes to veterans who lost their lives in World War II and Vietnam have long been displayed, college officials said.

The plaque was commissioned and donated by the school’s sophomore class.

Joe Puglia, a counselor at the college who served as a first lieutenant in the Marines in Vietnam, gave a brief speech in which he pondered how young soldiers can muster the courage to enter battle, knowing they might not return.

“Only the young, because they feel they are immortal, are able to face death on a daily basis in time of war,” Puglia said.

He added that the memorial will help preserve the memory of “the type of sacrifices that were made, that only a few of us can comprehend.”