Vietnam War

Costa Mesa Assemblyman Van Tran will speak at Sunday's dedication of the new veteran's memorial at Harbor Lawn Mount Olive Memorial Park. The recently completed memorial features flags representing different branches of the military and a walkway lined with bricks purchased by donors. Tran will lay a brick honoring his uncle, who was a general in the Republic of South Vietnam Army, and one for U.S. Army veteran Ronnie Guyer, who fought in the first major battle of the Vietnam War. The dedication ceremony is scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon Sunday at Harbor Law Mount Olive Memorial Park, 1625 Gisler Ave., Costa Mesa.

With the nomination and election of a president coming up next year, we're going to be hearing a lot about the military service of the candidates. Such information has been de rigueur for the better part of the 20th century, but there will be one enormous change in the election of 2000: the candidates will be talking -- or trying to avoid talking -- about Vietnam instead of World War II. In every presidential election since Harry Truman upset Tom Dewey in 1946 -- with the sole exception of Bill Clinton -- the winner has served in the military during a war. Truman was the last of the World War I presidents.

N icole Irigoyen, a senior at Estancia High School in Costa Mesa, has been spending quite a bit of time in a different sort of place for her senior class project. It's depressing but at times uplifting. The sad stories come at her full force, but so do the encouraging ones. The sight of the number of wheelchairs can be daunting, and yet they serve as testimony to survival. In short, it's the Living Community Center at the Long Beach VA Medical Center, and Irigoyen has caught the volunteer bug there.

Tom Titus War and its aftermath will be examined in a pair of dramatic productions -- one set at the onset of World War II, the other examining the Vietnam War's personal impact -- offered this month at UC Irvine and the Newport Theater Arts Center. Opening next weekend is UCI's production of "Cabaret," set in Berlin as the Nazis were rising to power. It's the second appearance by the John Kander-Fred Ebb musical on a local stage this year, following the production a few months ago by the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse.

Michael Medved, conservative social critic, gets a warm welcome at Balboa Bay Club.Before Michael Medved began speaking Saturday at the Balboa Bay Club, it sounded like it would be a quiet engagement. The author and film critic, a conservative Jew, had told the event's organizers that he would be following the Sabbath rules -- which included not driving a car, not writing or typing, and not using a microphone. It turned out that Medved didn't need the last one. In a fiery hour-long presentation, hosted by Principles Over Politics, the speaker took on antiwar protesters, left-leaning historians and mainstream media figures with enough gusto to be heard easily in the back row. As signed copies of his recent book, "Right Turns," lay around the tables -- the author had autographed them before the Sabbath -- Medved outlined his personal journey from the left to the right, slamming not only opponents of the Bush administration but also critics of the Vietnam War. He started the morning with a pun as he described the process of walking to the Balboa Bay Club and receiving wrong directions.

Paul Clinton COSTA MESA -- Bill Nolte hopes to honor the more than 58,000 men who died fighting the Vietnam War one step at a time. Each time he sends out a copy of his patriotic ballad, "So Long Song," Nolte said he is offering a positive message. "It's a farewell, a way of healing from the memories of the war," Nolte said. "What I wanted to do in the song is make a positive statement about Vietnam veterans." Nolte, who served in the war himself, can still remember the cold reception Vietnam veterans received in 1975 when they returned from Southeast Asia.

Colonel Frank Campbell Marshall Frank, at age 89 years old, and a 60 year resident of Newport Beach, passed away on October 24, 2009 at Hoag Hospital. Frank was raised in Redland, CA, graduated from Culver Military School in Indiana and Menlo College in Menlo, CA. A retired Colonel, he served in the Army in World War II and the Vietnam War. He then opened his Real Estate office in Newport Beach and retired in 1980. He is survived by his loving and dedicated wife of 64 years, Chris and their five sons and spouses; Frank Jr., Bob and Debi, John and Michele, Philip and Diane, and Paul and Kelly.

Deirdre Newman Seniors gathered Friday in advance of Memorial Day to share their wartime experiences. "A lot of these people will stay home the next three days, and I wanted to have them share," said Costa Mesa Senior Center Director Aviva Goelman. About 30 people attended the gathering outside the center, but only a few spoke. One of them was Roger Ledin, 89, who served in the Navy in New Caledonia during World War II. For Ledin, Memorial Day is to honor the fact that "we won the war and what we fought for."

I went to see "Pearl Harbor" in spite of its bad reviews. It was a piece of history I lived -- from a safe distance -- and I had to see how it was portrayed by a bunch of people who weren't around when it happened. I came away with the reaction I least expected: very little feeling at all. I found the battle scenes gripping, the rest considerably less. And I came home with a nagging sensation of irritation I couldn't identify. Now, I think I can. It grows from the pretentious hype being used to promote the movie about the American loss of innocence that began like the click of a light switch when Pearl Harbor was attacked.

June Casagrande The oldest was just 37. The youngest, only 15. The average age of the 58,227 men and eight women named on the wall was between 19 and 20 years old. In a somber and heartfelt ceremony, locals gathered to remember those who gave their lives during the Vietnam War, at the Vietnam Wall Experience, a two-thirds scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C, at Pacific View Memorial Park...

N icole Irigoyen, a senior at Estancia High School in Costa Mesa, has been spending quite a bit of time in a different sort of place for her senior class project. It's depressing but at times uplifting. The sad stories come at her full force, but so do the encouraging ones. The sight of the number of wheelchairs can be daunting, and yet they serve as testimony to survival. In short, it's the Living Community Center at the Long Beach VA Medical Center, and Irigoyen has caught the volunteer bug there.

For the handful of us who were there at the beginnings of UC Irvine — and are still around — the current student demonstrations bring to mind the anti-Vietnam War protests of the 1960s and early ’70s on college campuses across the country. They played out against a backdrop of a high U.S. casualty rate in Indochina and a deeply divided nation at home. In hindsight, I feel rather like the last remaining Civil War veteran in my Indiana home town. Whatever his modest role in society prior to that war, he must have sensed that survival alone was enough to make him historically important.

The nation will celebrate Veterans Day on Wednesday. Originally known as Armistice Day to honor veterans of World War I, legislation replaced the word “Armistice” with “Veterans” in 1954, recognizing the day as a day to honor American veterans of all wars, not only those who served in World War I. Here are some novels centering on those who served in various wars throughout history as we acknowledge this day of remembrance....

Colonel Frank Campbell Marshall Frank, at age 89 years old, and a 60 year resident of Newport Beach, passed away on October 24, 2009 at Hoag Hospital. Frank was raised in Redland, CA, graduated from Culver Military School in Indiana and Menlo College in Menlo, CA. A retired Colonel, he served in the Army in World War II and the Vietnam War. He then opened his Real Estate office in Newport Beach and retired in 1980. He is survived by his loving and dedicated wife of 64 years, Chris and their five sons and spouses; Frank Jr., Bob and Debi, John and Michele, Philip and Diane, and Paul and Kelly.

The Newport Harbor High School class of 1961 definitely knows how to plan ahead. Several of the classmates began annual meet-ups three years ago as “pre-reunions,” leading up to their 50th in 2011. Saturday was their most recent gathering. “We’re 64 going on Medicare, and we’re worrying if we’ll still be loved,” quipped Catherine Supple, who now lives in Texas. “We’re not the boomers; technically, that’s those born post-1946,” Supple wrote in an e-mail she sent to her former classmates.

Costa Mesa council members voted unanimously Tuesday to support 1st Battalion 5th Marine Regiment, but the city will not directly provide the battalion any money. The battalion’s 1,000 Marines live throughout Southern California and are stationed at Camp Pendleton. They have no particular connection to Costa Mesa, any more than they have to other local cities, but neither do other military units supported by surrounding cities such as Newport Beach, Huntington Beach and Irvine.

The future site for the Orange County Outdoor Education Center doesn’t look like much. There are a few areas that have been graded in preparation for construction, water and gas pipes sprout from the ground, and the only major construction are the two mine shafts that are being built. But when you talk to Michael Harrison, his enthusiasm can make you see the future center already. The center’s plans include an aquatics center with Olympic-sized swimming pool, an astronomy camp, a ranch camp and other activity centers.

The day will come, possibly in the next two decades, when the last survivor of the Greatest Generation passes away. That is the realization that Harvey Shaw lives with every year as he watches the ranks of his fellow World War II veterans deplete. Shaw, who lives in Newport Beach and served in three wars of the last century, has breakfast every week with a small circle of peers and occasionally visits elementary schools to talk about his experiences. He asks the students if they want to hear about World War II, Korea or Vietnam, and they almost always choose the first one. He’s grateful for that.

Costa Mesa Assemblyman Van Tran will speak at Sunday's dedication of the new veteran's memorial at Harbor Lawn Mount Olive Memorial Park. The recently completed memorial features flags representing different branches of the military and a walkway lined with bricks purchased by donors. Tran will lay a brick honoring his uncle, who was a general in the Republic of South Vietnam Army, and one for U.S. Army veteran Ronnie Guyer, who fought in the first major battle of the Vietnam War. The dedication ceremony is scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon Sunday at Harbor Law Mount Olive Memorial Park, 1625 Gisler Ave., Costa Mesa.