Page 2 November 19, 2015 TORRANCE TRIBUNE By TerriAnn Ferren Photos by TerriAnn Ferren Veterans Day falls on Wednesday, November 11, and is a time to remember all those who have served our country. Abraham Lincoln once said, “To care for those who have borne the battle, and their widows and their orphans”. To remember our dedication and continued commitment to the needs of our brave servicemen and women still living is, I believe just as important as those we honor whose names are listed on our Veterans Memorial Wall on the corner of Maple Avenue and Torrance Boulevard, dedicated on March 19, 2005. We must never forget as we stand in reverence before this monument of marble and stone on Veterans Day all those who went before us and gave their lives and those who served honorably and deserve our upmost respect and gratitude. We have a solemn and sacred responsibility as Americans and citizens of this country to care for our veterans. To care for those who have served, sacrificed, and worn Veterans Day 2015 the uniform of this country is what I believe Lincoln was talking about when he spoke long ago. He knew, and was well aware of the fact, that concrete and marble monuments with beautifully etched words of patriotism, sacrifice, and freedom are one thing, but our continued caring and commitment to those who have served (and their families) long after they have returned home and taken off their uniforms is the truest form of patriotism and love of country. A truly living and caring memorial is helping our veterans that come home wounded physically and emotionally. We have many veterans in the city of Torrance and I had the honor of visiting with one of them – Gerald (Jerry) Ronan, who served in the United States Navy during WWII. Jerry told me was drafted out of high school at the age of 18, in 1944, and sent into the Navy, along with his high school buddy, Cecil Harris. Cecil was inducted into the army, and was dead six months later in Europe. “We had been altar boys together and gone all through school – a little school – there were twelve in our graduating class. So that was a real shock. I ended up in the Navy - going Navy base to Navy base, never going to sea.” Maybe because Jerry served his country and had relatives and friends who died in WWII, is why he remains one of the ‘movers and shakers’ of the Torrance Historical Society dedicated to documenting the names on the City of Torrance Veterans Memorial Wall, and writing about each one of them – putting a face to a name. He was inspired to spearhead this project after observing a teacher in South Dakota gather biographies of every deceased veteran in the entire state. Every name represents a person who had a history, and that history should never be forgotten. Jerry was contacted by the person gathering information on Cecil, his childhood friend, for the project in South Dakota. Later, Jerry thought that was a great idea for Torrance. “We have these names on the wall and most people didn’t know anything about them, and I could see that we were very fast loosing their contemporaries from WWII. We had already lost them from WWI. We only have one name [on the wall] from WWI, Bert Crossland; the American Legion Post is named for him. The siblings were dying so I thought this is something we should do. It has been a marvelous experience,” said Jerry. Jerry told me that former Mayor Ken Miller, who grew up in Torrance, was interviewed because he went to school with a lot of the WWII veterans whose names are on the wall. He wrote down little remembrances of each one. After leaving Jerry Ronan’s home in downtown Torrance, I decided to ask a Korean War Veteran about his experiences. He told me, “I joined the National Guard to make $30 a month to have some money. When I first joined, I signed up for three years - I was a ground trooper. I was in the guard nearly three years before I was ‘called up’ (the 40th Infantry Division of the National Guard was Federalized) in September and everyone in Veteran Bernard Anderson visiting with a Korean War Veterans wife, Kathryn Joiner, representing her husband, Lt. Jim Joiner Air Force. Vietnam Veterans Ron Kovic, Sgt. USMC, Ora Jean Stenenson Cpt. Army Nurse Corps, Bob Chiota, Lt.Col US Army Aviation. Debbie Hays, VP of Fundraising at the Torrance Historical Society; Bob Chiota, Vietnam Veteran; Mayor Patrick Furey; and Janet Payne, VP in charge of Programs at the Torrance Historical Society. See Veteran’s Day, page 11 Vietnam Veteran Ron Kovic visits with Isaiah Pascual, age 11. Captains and brothers Bryce and Brandon Matson. WWII Veterans Harry Peck Captain US Navy, Gene Wiehe, US Navy, Dick Kuhns Lt. Commander US Navy, Yvette Hyatt Kovary Lt. Coast Guard Reserve.
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