He is a member of many service-related organizations, but there is one he helped found, the Remembrance Memorial for California Korean War Veterans in the San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery.

He conducts a Veterans Day memorial service every year.

Jabaut served in the Navy during the Korean War. He raises his graying eyebrows and his steel-blue eyes widen when he hears the terms used to define the Korean War--a conflict, police action and the forgotten war. It's a war that has haunted him for more than 40 years.

In 1989 Jabaut decided to make sure the forgotten were remembered.

He set out to develop a lasting memorial for his many fallen comrades. Jabaut says he lived for many years with a burning desire to honor those servicemen who gave their lives in the snow-covered Korean terrain, in the sea-to-shore battle at Inchon and Pusan and the foreboding hills of the Chosen Reservoir.

Jabaut decided in 1992 to establish a nonprofit charitable organization and began the painstaking process of fundraising.

"It amazed me that corporations and even the government felt the Korean War and those who gave their lives against the communist regime were just a thing of the past," Jabaut says. "Most of the donations for the memorial came from individuals and some from military organizations in California."

Some of those organizations included the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Affairs, the 1st Marine Division of San Francisco and the Korean War Veterans Santa Clara County.

He was able to convince the United States government to donate land in the newly built National Cemetery in the San Joaquin Valley outside the small town of Santa Nella.

On Aug. 1, 1998, Jabaut was able to realize his dream. The Remembrance Memorial for California Korean War Veterans was dedicated.

"Sixteen granite panels stand as sentinels in a circular design as if guarding the 1,400 acres surrounding the cemetery," Jabaut says. The panels contain the names of the 2,545 military personnel from California who have been listed as killed or missing in action during the Korean War, from 1950 to 1953.

On July 3, 2002, Jabaut achieved another goal when former Gov. Gray Davis signed a bill into law that declared the Remembrance Memorial for California Korean War Veterans in the San Joaquin Valley the official state memorial for all California Korean War veterans.

For his efforts, the Northern California Marine Corps Association honored Jabaut in 1999. In 2002 he was further recognized by Gen. James Jones of the Marine Corps, for his "unyielding devotion to the corps and his country." Jabaut was awarded the title of honorary Marine by the general.

To Jabaut the recognition really belongs to the fallen veterans, which he says is long overdue.

"My reward and satisfaction comes in watching relatives and friends of those real heroes as they stand at the memorial with heads bowed, or those who take rubbings of names off the wall. These are the silent signs of gratitude that mean the most to me."

Jabaut will conduct a Veterans Day Memorial Service on Nov. 13 at 11 a.m. The ceremony will take place at the site of the Remembrance Memorial for California Korean War Veterans in the San Joaquin National Cemetery, off Interstate 5 in Santa Nella. For more information, call 408.855.9935 or email gjabaut@ cwnet.com.