The Cupertino Courier
Letters & Opinions
A long overdue honoring of veterans
By Michael Cronk
Airmen from the 129th Rescue Wing, based out of Moffett Field, returned Sept. 8 after a three-month deployment in Afghanistan. It was a joyful reunion with family and friends.
There was a somewhatless joyful, but equally heart-felt, gathering days later at the first South Bay Stand Down in Boulder Creek. Down-on-their-luck veterans, including some from Cupertino, received services such as food, clothing, shelter , medical and dental care and legal assistance.
And here in Cupertino this past week there was the groundbreaking for the Veteran's Memorial at Memorial Park. Significantly , it was on Sept. 11.
"Was it meaningful for us? You bet it was,'' says Sandra James, a former mayor of Cupertino and president of the non-profit Cupertino Veterans Memorial.
The memorial will be dedicated on Nov. 11--Veteran's Day--about two years after the idea was born. It took almost 60 years for the World War II Memorial to be built in Washington, D.C. To be fair, it was a lot bigger than the Cupertino memorial project.
Still, the reason the Cupertino Veterans Memorial happened so rapidly was because the community response was "immediate and overwhelming,'' according to James.
Major donors included the Ron Cali Family, developer John Sobrato, Prometheus Co., Jim Black from Cupertino Land Development, and Ed Storm of Hunter-Storm Properties. The city of Cupertino was the biggest donor, giving $55,000 ($1 per resident).
The Korean communityhas donated $25,000. The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office is commiting $20,000 to the project over the next three years. The veteran's memorial will also honor firefighters and sheriff's deputies who provide public safety services in Cupertino.
Thousands of other people, including school children, have also donated thus far. Around $420,000 of the project's $650,000 has already been collected.
The idea for the memorial started in 2005 when James was still on the city council. It was shortly after Matthew Axelson, a Navy SEAL and Monta Vista High School graduate, was killed while serving in Afghanistan and family and friends asked the council for permission to place a small memorial plaque at Memorial Park in his honor.
The council decided "it was an opportunity to finally do something that should have been done long ago,'' said James--honor veterans past and present, including Matthew.
After she left the council, James has devoted herself to seeing that the memorial was built. "It's the most important think I have ever done,'' she says.
The memorial fundraising effort continues with donations and the selling of inscribed memorial pavers. I'm paying for a paver to honor my father, a combat veteran of World War II.
Eight schools have raised enough for eight pavers, so far, and teachers are planning lessions plans that involve bringing children to the memorial.
Donations can be made through the www.cupertinoveteransmemorial.org website. Literature and information is also available at the construction site.
All of which will lead up to the first formal Veteran's Day celebration ever in Cupertino, according to James, and will include a fly over and the attendance of the Secretary of the Navy.
Michael cronk is the editor of the Cupertino Courier. Contact him at 408.200.1055 or mcraonk @community-newspapers.com.
