Category Veteran Memorial

CalVet logo and California State Capitol building.

2024 Will Ring in New Laws Benefiting California’s Veterans

New Year’s Day 2024 will institute several new laws intended to benefit veterans of the United States Armed Forces. On the federal side, military retirees and disabled veterans will receive a 3.2 percent raise in 2024, mirroring the cost-of-living increase for Social Security benefits.

American flags blowing in the breeze.

FROM BORDER TO BORDER, COAST TO SIERRA, CALIFORNIANS HAVE A MONUMENTAL DEDICATION TO MEMORIAL DAY

Near the small community of Weed, just 25 miles from the Oregon border, the Living Gardens Sculpture Memorial stands with Mount Shasta as a spectacular backdrop. Dedicated in 1994, its Memorial Wall bears the names of those from Siskiyou County who died while defending our nation and its Constitution. Some 870 miles south and just […]

A photo of flowers set up against inurnments at the California Central Coast Veterans Cemetery.

MEMORIAL DAY SERVICE RETURNS TO CALVET CEMETERY IN SEASIDE AFTER TWO-YEAR PANDEMIC ABSENCE

On a cool and windy recent May morning, Catherine Figueroa donned a camouflage coat and ball cap as she arrived at the California Central Coast Veterans Cemetery in Seaside. She drove to the top of the hill, to the Columbarium that contains the ashes of her husband, Army veteran Pedro Figueroa, who died in October […]

Multiple photos of ongoing construction work at the Yountville Veterans Home.

NEW SKILLED NURSING FACILITY AT YOUNTVILLE HOME WILL BE VETERAN-CENTRIC FROM THE GROUND UP

Yountville – Of the veterans, by the veterans, for the veterans. The fingerprints of United States military veterans can and will be found all over the new $269 million, 240-bed skilled nursing facility and memory care center at the Veterans Home of California-Yountville, from the project’s conception to its eventual occupancy. Leadership at the California […]

PUTTING MEMORIAL DAY INTO FOCUS AMID THE BLUR OF A 3-DAY WEEKEND

When Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act in 1968, it ultimately transformed three holidays and one day of remembrance – the latter being Memorial Day – into three-day weekends. The underlying reason? Travel, barbecues, picnics, and such all benefit the national, regional, and local economies. It became the unofficial start of the summer tourism […]

CALVET’S RESPECT FOR LATINO VETERANS ETCHED IN STONE

Statues, in many cases, honor a person who symbolized leadership, bravery, and who set the example that others follow. The California Mexican-American Veterans Memorial, known as “El Soldado,” is different, though. It represents not an individual, but an entire culture of patriots. Consequently, with Latino Heritage Month coming to its close, the California Department of […]

GROUNDBREAKING SET FOR NATIVE AMERICAN MEMORIAL PLAZA THAT WILL SHOWCASE “THE GIFT” STATUE AT RIVERSIDE

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) National Cemetery Administration will break ground on the plaza of the American Indians Veterans Memorial on Friday, September 25 at the Riverside National Cemetery.  It will be the first major monument honoring U.S. indigenous veterans located at a VA national cemetery. The Memorial will feature a statue named “The […]

POW-MIA BRACELETS BROUGHT ATTENTION TO THE CAUSE, SOLDIERS HOME IN 1970s

POW-MIA BRACELETS BROUGHT ATTENTION TO THE CAUSE, SOLDIERS HOME IN 1970s As the Vietnam War raged into the 1970s, the North Vietnamese had captured hundreds of American soldiers and airmen, with many more reported as missing in action. A young college student took it upon herself to make sure Americans did not forget about them. […]

HOW SEPTEMBER 2, 1945, BECAME ONE OF THE MOST MONUMENTAL DAYS IN HISTORY

Certainly, September 2, 1945, stands as one of the most monumental days in modern times, as judged by the number of monuments that followed. On this day 75 years ago, Japanese officials boarded the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, and signed the documents of surrender that ended World War II. Later that same day, […]

JUST FOUR NAMES OF CALIFORNIA’S FALLEN NEEDED FOR VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL WALL OF FACES

Four faces, four photographs to go: Tommy R. Henderson, Los Angeles, U.S. Army John E. Magee, Los Angeles, U.S. Army Vernon P. Smith, Los Angeles, U.S. Navy Frank Spotwood Jr., San Francisco, U.S. Army The mission: To find their photos and submit them to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall’s virtual Wall of Faces. Ah, if […]