Memorial to Vietnam Servicemen Languishes

Once they were full of life, like the young men they represented. Now, two oak trees planted by the city in memory of two Vietnam soldiers from Thousand Oaks are suffering from neglect.

“The motto of the prisoner-of-war [movement] is ‘Lest We Forget.’ And we forgot,” said Thousand Oaks resident William Maple, who is leading an effort to restore a sense of honor to the two “Freedom Trees” dedicated in 1973 to Air Force Capt. Eric Huberth and Lt. Gregg O. Hanson.

Huberth, classified as missing in action, went down with his jet over Cambodia in 1970. Hanson was a POW at the infamous Hanoi Hilton camp. He survived the war and now lives in Florida.

A tree was planted for each man as part of an opening ceremony for the city’s former civic center complex on West Hillcrest Drive.

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More than a year after family members complained that city neglect caused Huberth’s oak to die, officials have still not acted on promises to replace the tree or turn it into a memorial sculpture.

“With the City Council fighting a recall effort and trying to decide who’s to blame for broken sewer pipes, this just hasn’t been a priority,” Maple said.

“I think the city may feel that time has healed all wounds, but it hasn’t,” said Lorraine Larsen, one of Huberth’s four sisters.

The trees were planted on opposite sides of a stairway leading to the old City Council chambers at the former Thousand Oaks Civic Center at 401 W. Hillcrest Drive, now being remodeled for use by the National Park Service.

The dead tree remains in place, although some of its branches have been cut and lie piled atop the trunk. Bark is torn off the trunk and weeds cover a plaque, set in a rock, that says “The Freedom Tree--With the Vision of Universal Freedom for All Mankind.”

The nearby tree honoring Hanson, although still alive, is nearly hidden by brush.

“I went up to the trees today and it’s horrible,” said Susanne Huberth of Thousand Oaks, another of the missing pilot’s sisters. “It doesn’t surprise me. It’s not a priority for them. If it was a priority, his tree never would have died.”

Officials said Huberth’s tree likely died from a fungal infection and insect infestation.

Hanson, the former POW, fears the tree dedicated to him could meet the same fate.

“These trees were to be a living memorial to future generations,” Hanson wrote from his home in Melbourne, Fla., in a March 1 letter to the city. “I hope you will protect my tree and the new Huberth sapling, and do what is deemed necessary to avoid the fate of the original Huberth tree.”

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Hanson wrote the letter after he returned to Thousand Oaks for his father’s funeral.

“I was there when he looked at his tree and at the Huberth oak,” Maple said. “His expression when he saw them was tough to see.”

Councilwoman Linda Parks said something must be done.

“This should not drag on,” she said. “I’ve been e-mailing the city administration weekly, letting them know they need to take care of this.”

Although government may move slowly, “We have to have more respect than what is being given to this matter,” she said.

The sponsor of a request to turn Huberth’s memorial into a sculpture made from the oak’s wood said “someone dropped the ball” in caring for the trees.

“They’ve been neglected,” said Jane Brooks, chairwoman of the city Arts Commission, which is pushing for the sculpture and for better upkeep of the former city hall site.

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The sculpture plan has been in the works since May, when city officials voted unanimously to preserve the wood. But nothing has been done so far, and the Huberth oak took a battering recently from heavy El Nino rains.

Maple believes it may be too late to cut down the tree and use it for a sculpture, because the wood has weathered and been damaged by insects.