The City of El Centro remembers and honors local Veterans by engraving their names in the Veterans Memorial Wall
The Veterans Memorial Wall has open spaces for Veterans names to be engraved until October 2022.
EL CENTRO, Calif. - (KYMA, KECY) - The City of El Centro has 14 open spaces on the Veterans Memorial Wall located in Bucklin Park and is inviting locals to honor the brave men and women who have served our nation by engraving their name into the wall.
According to Adriana Nava, City of El Centro's Director of Community Services, in March of 2016, then mayor Jason Jackson approached city staff and the City Council about his desire and vision to construct a wall to honor our local Veterans. After various discussions about a proposed location, Bucklin Park was ultimately selected and the wall was completed in November of 2016.
Engravings on the wall are conducted twice a year, Memorial Day and Veteran's Day. With Veteran's Day coming up, the City of El Centro is notifying the community about the spaces available to recognize, reflect and pay tribute to the men and women who have dedicated their lives to defend the United States.
"The process to get the name engraved, you go to our website https://cityofelcentro.org/veterans-memorial-wall-engraving/, we have an application there," says Nava. "We do require verification through the DD214 and the payment is $200."
If someone wishes to honor a deceased family member but does not have documents, they can contact the the Veterans Affairs office for assistance.
The Mayor of El Centro Tomas Oliva says anyone can generally apply but the Veteran Memorial Wall is typically for our local community, Imperial Valley wide Veterans.
"We prefer that they're from the valley or some tie," says Oliva. "For example, if you happen to be from Colorado or you're from Texas and now you live here and you have a loved one but you live here and want to memorialize a loved one, your spouse, your parents, certainly we'll be open to it. I think we would all prefer that some level of tie to our community exists."
One Army Veteran and El Centro resident who served in the Vietnam War, Thomas Henderson was put on the Veterans Memorial Wall by his family.
"For me, it was a real pleasant thing. It's a recognition. I'm sure you're aware that Vietnam Veterans for very long had a stigma attached to us," says Henderson. "When I first went to work in the El Centro School District in 1981, I had an employee call me a baby killer and that was a sentiment held by many Americans at the time. There were those who supported the war, those who were against it. My response was I didn't kill any babies and I did the job I was asked to. I served in Germany, then I served in the Infantry Vietnam and I finally commanded a missile site in Florida, so there's a wide variety I served the nation."
Henderson wants locals to know this wall is for all Veterans.
"Not just those that have passed away because the minute they serve the country and took the oath, they signed a blank check and they went where they were sent," says Henderson. "And one of the biggest problems I have is with Veterans that say, 'Well I wasn't in the war, I'm not a Veteran.' You're a Veteran. You went where your orders said to go. You accepted that and for that reason you are a Veteran and your name belongs here."
Mayor Oliva says he hopes many locals take advantage of this opportunity to honor their friends and family who fought for our country.
"I think this wall reflects this community's love and passion and dedication to our nation as a whole," says Oliva. "And this is a way that the community or the city was able to provide a space so that loved ones can come by and see their loved ones on this wall."
Nava says the Veterans Memorial Wall is a great monument and beautiful place. If you haven't visited it, she encourages you to do so.
"This is a great opportunity to honor them and showcase their name and also means a lot in terms of the history of the community," explains Nava. "Our community, we have these great honored heroes and many times we run into them at Vons or anywhere and we don't even notice it and so having these names allows here to preserve our local history and honor them."
To allow time for the engraver to prepare the sites, the deadline to apply to have a Veterans name engraved will be October 10, 2022.
