Veterans Urge Respect for Their Sacrifices

All who were listening heard the plea.

It was spoken by every veteran who gave a speech or offered a prayer or unveiled a memorial: a plea to the nation from those who fought for it.

“We want them to know why there is a Veterans Day and to learn to respect those who have given their lives and fought for this country,” said Dale Sampson, a Vietnam War veteran who lives in Pico Rivera. “We want them to be thankful and carry the pride we have, carry it into the next generation.”

Under drizzly skies Wednesday, Southern Californians observed Veterans Day with the traditional ceremonies, speeches, buglers and bagpipes.

The observances paid tribute to veterans of war. But on this day the veterans asked for something in return: thankfulness, remembrance, pride.

“We are blessed that we never saw the ravages of war like all the other countries on the planet have seen; therefore we must give thanks to all our veterans,” said 79-year-old Sal Guarriello, a West Hollywood City Council member who was a combat medic in World War II and received a Purple Heart.

Symbols of Remembrance

West Hollywood took a step toward the creation of a permanent monument, unveiling a picture of a planned veterans memorial. It will be built in a triangle formed by Holloway and Santa Monica boulevards, Guarriello said.

Proposed by a committee of veterans, the memorial will pay tribute to the sacrifices made by veterans. Guarriello seized upon the idea two years ago after a friend took a group of high school students to France and learned that the students knew little about World War II.

Guarriello said it made him think, “What’s going on with the history of our country that this generation doesn’t know what sacrifices were made in the years past?”

At the Veterans Administration Healthcare Center in Westwood, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and U.S. Secretary of the Army Louis Caldera participated in a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Korean War.

A ceremony at El Toro Memorial Park Cemetery in Orange County was timed to start at 11 a.m.--the hour that hostilities ended in World War I 80 years ago.

George Gentry, a disabled Vietnam War veteran, implored the crowd of about 200 to recognize not just the soldiers who had served but also the men and women now stationed in places like Bosnia and Macedonia.

“Do something to let these guys know that people back home haven’t forgotten them,” Gentry said.

Another speaker asked the audience to say a prayer for Americans missing in action in the Vietnam War.

One Vietnam veteran, Alfred Rascon, has yet to receive the honor his old army buddies say he earned.

The former Oxnard resident served with the 173d Airborne Brigade, and deserves the Congressional Medal of Honor for shielding injured soldiers from grenade attacks with his body, suffering shrapnel wounds in his face, leg and back, said retired Col. Ken Smith.

Determined to find out why Rascon had not received the honor, his friends launched their own investigation and found that the reason for the omission was one of the oldest bureaucratic cliches in the book: The paperwork had been lost.

A new nomination for Rascon--now a Maryland resident who is inspector general for the U.S. Selective Service--was submitted in February and is pending.

In the meantime, Rascon, 52, was saluted in a Wednesday night ceremony by Heroes & Heritage, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that honors Latino veterans.

In Ventura, about 300 people gathered at Ivy Lawn Cemetery for an hourlong Veterans Day remembrance service.

In Beverly Hills, Consul Guy Yelda pinned the French Legion of Honor on Albert Willard, 101, of Sherman Oaks and Fred Roberts, 102, of Temple City.

To commemorate the anniversary of the end of World War I, the French government decided to honor living American veterans who fought on French soil, said Lt. Col. Robert Johnson. Twenty-seven Americans across the country were so honored Wednesday. More medals will be presented to about 300 others.

In Pico Rivera, about 200 people gathered for a ceremony that included elected officials and veteran Frank Turiace, a former Marine who earned a Purple Heart and Silver Star. Children also participated in the ceremony, Sampson said. And they were there for a purpose.

“We need the young people to carry the torch for us because we’re getting up in years,” Sampson said. “We need for them to have an understanding of . . . who are the heroes.”

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Times staff writers Gil Reza, Ann L. Kim, Jose Cardenas and Zerline A. Hughes and special correspondent Nick Green contributed to this story.