POSTED ON 5.12.2021 POSTED BY: RICHARD D SAKHAROFF
YOUR 71ST BIRTHDAY ANNIVERSARY
Raymond, You lived to see your 19th Birthday, and you are forever young when we lost you so long ago. But even in death, there are many others who still remember you and think of you. Still a Marine, you live forever.
Semper Fi.
POSTED ON 5.12.2020 POSTED BY: RICHARD D SAKHAROFF
YOUR BIRTHDAY, 70 YEARS AGO TODAY
Raymond, I have read about you from various sources even though we had never met. We were born and raised in Los Angeles County. We lived not far from each other, you in La Puente, me in West Covina. You were a year older, one grade ahead of me. One important memory we both shared is that of being paperboys for the Tribune probably around the same time in the early 1960’s. We were just kids.
So many our age saw military service, in fact 350,000 of us from California during the Vietnam years. But you had the courage to join the Marine Corps, even though there was so many other ways to serve. I know you went to Camp Pendleton for your boot camp. I remember back in 1968-69 so many Marines like yourself served in provinces of Quang Tri and Quang Nam.
A lot of us are well into our 60’s and 70’s now, and you remain 19 years old. I read about the fact that you were a casualty of a misadventure, a mortar round fell short, (friendly fire). A fellow marine serving with you who survived, Mike Stanger, wrote a lengthy explanation about the day you died and how it affected him.
It was riveting to me the way he explained it.
I will continue moving forward with you in my thoughts as I let others know about you, who can tell others, so that “never again shall one generation of veterans abandon another”
Forever Peace to you
POSTED ON 5.19.2010
LOS ANGELES COUNTY VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL HIGHWAY
A portion of Sepulveda Boulevard/State Highway Route 1 in El Segundo near Los Angeles International Airport has been dedicated to the residents of Los Angeles County who served in Vietnam. This section of highway is now designated the Los Angeles County Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway. Adopted by the California State Legislature in 2000, the highway honors the more than 350,000 California veterans who served in the Vietnam War, including the 5,822 killed or missing in action. Los Angeles County has the largest number of Vietnam veterans in California and 1,857 of its residents were killed or missing in action during that war. This memorial corridor provides a fitting and proper way for the residents of Los Angeles County to express their gratitude and appreciation for the sacrifices these Vietnam veterans have made for their country
