‘Warriors’ honored on Veterans Day

Other men would have run, but the two Marines on post in Iraq did not — not as the truck carrying a suicide bomber and 2,000 pounds of explosives barreled toward them, not as nearby Iraqi policemen ran.

They stood their ground, firing their weapons at the driver of the bomb-laden truck careening down the alleyway toward them, just as they had been ordered, just as they had trained. Then the truck stopped — and it detonated.

The blast damaged 24 nearby brick buildings, caused a mosque 100 yards away to collapse and launched the truck’s engine, which landed 200 yards away. It killed the two Marines, but their actions had saved the lives of 50 of their fellow Marines and 100 Iraqi police at the outpost in Ramadi in 2008.

PHOTOS: Burbank Veterans Day ceremony at McCambridge Park

“This story is not to illustrate the death of American service members, but rather meant to highlight the selfless act of our nation’s brave men and women,” said retired Marine Sgt. Maj. Michael Kufchak to a crowd in front of the McCambridge Park War Memorial.

Kufchak was the guest speaker at a Veterans Day ceremony at the war memorial on Tuesday. The event, organized by the Burbank Veterans Committee, honored local veterans and featured performances by the Burbank Community Band, veterans committee member Pat Walmisley and kindergartners from St. Robert Bellarmine Catholic Elementary School.

U.S. Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), state Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Burbank), and representatives from the offices of U.S. Congressman Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) and state Senator Carol Liu (D-La Cañada Flintridge) attended, as did Burbank City Council members and city staff.

Mayor David Gordon presented 10 recent local veterans with certificates and the banners bearing their names that had flown along Third Street during their time in the service under the city’s Military Service Recognition Program.

Salvador and Norma Ambriz of Burbank accepted the items on behalf of their son, a third-generation Marine whose banner had flown over Third Street since 2004. He could not be at the ceremony because he was working in Washington, DC.

“It’s an honor for us to have the community recognize our son,” Norma Ambriz said.

Chris Welker, a member of the Military Service Recognition Program committee and mother of Staff Sgt. Ryan Welker, who is currently serving in Iraq, said she helped start the program after her son joined the Army.

“My hope, my personal hope, was that someone would see my son up there [on the banner] and say a prayer,” Chris Welker said.

Pablo Murillo, who served in Iraq with the Marines in 2003 and was one of the veterans honored with a banner, said he was humbled and made proud by the show of community support.

But perhaps more than the presentations and fanfare, patriotic music and speeches, Kufchak’s words stood out.

“They are not victims,” Kufchak said of U.S. veterans. “No, they are not victims, but are warriors.”

Murillo, an infantryman like the Marines in Kufchak’s story, said the speech moved him.

“That got me going,” Murillo said. “It definitely got some emotions out of me.”

After the ceremony, about a mile away at Burbank VFW Post 8310, a small group of veterans gathered to honor not recent service members, but World War II veteran Richard Green, who served in the Navy in 1944 before suffering injuries while on duty in the English Channel.

He’s 87, but “I tell everybody 68,” he said, and for more than 20 years, he’s been the lone local champion of the VFW’s “Buddy” poppy program, which raises money for the organization’s services nationwide.

Green still drives and visits others his age, mostly widows, taking them to dinner or to the VFW, said Jeff Prutz, a Marine Corps veteran. “It’s Richard’s car, but it benefits a lot of people,” Prutz said.

However, the car has seen better days..

“He shifts gears with a screwdriver,” said Prutz, calling the car “a piece of crap.”

He said the car problems made Green stop driving for a while and he started to get depressed and dispirited. That’s when Prutz collaborated with friend Danny Yanez to find a replacement.

On Tuesday afternoon, in the alley behind the VFW, they surprised Green with a used 2002 Honda Civic that they said will last for years.

“What a day,” Green said after his first drive in the car. “This is the best Veterans Day I’ve ever had. I can guarantee it.”