Sacramento – The California Vietnam Memorial Name Committee agreed to add the names of 31 California Veterans who died while serving our country in the Vietnam War. The 31 names are scheduled to be added to the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial and then unveiled during a ceremony in Capitol Park on March 29, 2015.
“We are honored to formally recognize the service and sacrifice of our brave men in uniform,” said Peter Gravett, Secretary, California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet). “Although our recognition is decades late, California’s salute is equally heartfelt and deserved for all of our fallen service members and their families.”
On October 28, 2014, the Committee took two actions. First, it voted in favor of adding the names of 10 California Veterans to the state memorial that were already etched into the Vietnam Veterans Memorial located in Washington, DC, yet not on the California memorial.
The following 10 Veterans will be added to the state memorial in Sacramento:
- Johnny Owen Brooks
Donald Scott Carson
James Douglas Chappell
David McLean Desilets
John Edward Granville
Thomas Randolph McCormick
Richard Monroe Pruett
Robert Michael Swick
Richard John Tortorice
John Henry Van Wyk
Second, the Committee voted in favor of adding the names of 21 California Sailors who died while aboard the USS Frank E. Evans when the ship sank during a training exercise in the South China Sea on June 3, 1969. The destroyer’s home port was Long Beach, California.
Approval to add the names of 21 Sailors came after the Committee heard testimony from families of the fallen Sailors and survivors. The 21 Sailors are:
- Andrew James Botto
Robert George Brandon
William Daniel Brown II
Christopher John Carlson
Danny Victor Clute
Joe Eddy Craig
Leon Larry Deal
Steven Frank Espinosa
William Donald Fields
Henry Kenneth Frye
Francis Joseph Garcia
Devere Ray Grissom, Jr.
James William Kerr
Isaac Lyons, Jr.
Andrew Martin Melendrez
Gregory Koichi Ogawa
Craig Allen Pennell
John Raymond Spray
Jon Kenneth Stever
Ronald Arthur Thibodeau
John Thomas Tolar
All 31 names are set to be unveiled at a ceremony in Sacramento’s Capitol Park scheduled for Sunday, March 29, 2015, the day before Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day.
The Committee, created when Governor Brown signed AB 287 in 2013, is tasked with adding names of men and women killed during the Vietnam War. The Committee is also charged with reviewing the names of men and women whose deaths after returning from service in Vietnam were determined by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to be service-connected. Under the provisions of the law, written by Assemblymember Jim Frazier, Jr., the Committee must compile a list of names to be added to the memorial by November 1 of each year.
The Committee members are CalVet Secretary Peter J. Gravett, Chairman; representatives from the California State Commanders Veterans Council: Jerry Guevara, Vice Chairman, and Jim Anderson; representatives from the California Chapter of Vietnam Veterans of America: Al Sickle, Mike Kennedy, and Lou Nuñes as alternate.
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