Resident leads effort to designate Interstate 780 ‘Women’s Purple Heart Trail’
AMONG THE VETERANS attending Tuesday’s City Council meeting, at which Mayor Elizabeth Patterson proclaimed Benicia a Purple Heart City were (from left) Purple Heart recipient Russ Stanley (seated), Ed Heffernan, Ernie Gutierrez and Pete Caggiano. Not pictured: Dan Schaefer and Charles Cain. At the same meeting, Stan Golovich asked Council and citizen support for his effort to have Interstate 780 named part of the Purple Heart Trail in honor of women recipients of the medal, which is conferred upon those who have been wounded or killed in combat.
Donna Beth Weilenman/Staff
But Benicia resident Stan Golovich is hoping for even greater recognition of those veterans, particularly military women who have been awarded the honor.
He wants Interstate 780, which links Interstate 80 in Vallejo and Interstate 680 in Benicia, dedicated as part of the Purple Heart Trail, especially to honor women veterans who have received the medal.
Patterson read the proclamation in front of the Council and an assembly of Benicia’s veterans Tuesday night. It described how the Purple Heart, created by George Washington in 1782 and the first such decoration available to the common soldier, also is the oldest military decoration still in use.
“The city of Benicia has many highly decorated veterans, including many Purple Heart recipients,” Patterson read.
The city “appreciates the sacrifices our Purple Heart recipients made in defending our freedoms and believes it is important that we acknowledge them for their courage and to show them the honor and support they have earned.”
Golovich said the Purple Heart Trail consists of roads, highways and bridges that have become monuments to the medal’s recipients. Begun in 1992, the trail starts at a monument at Mount Vernon, Va., Washington’s burial place.
From there it has spread to 45 states and Guam. In California, parts of I-80, I-5 and California Highway 101 are among those designated as Purple Heart Trail routes.
Golovich said he specifically wants to acknowledge military women’s service through adding I-780 to that list, as the “Women’s Purple Heart Trail.”
“We want to proclaim I-780 a distinctive part,” he said.
To get that designation, however, will require an act by the California Assembly, Golovich noted. To accomplish this he is seeking the help of Benicia’s representative in the Assembly, Susan Bonilla, D-Concord. Bonilla’s press secretary, Ryan Morimune, said prior to Tuesday’s meeting he had no information yet on the request.
Golovich said he also has spoken with Benicia City Councilmember Christina Strawbridge, who sees the project as an extension of other Benicia activities that salute area veterans. Among them, the Downtown Benicia Alliance’s first Veterans Appreciation Day event at City Park Nov. 9 attracted 300 to hear music and addresses by Patterson and veterans.
Strawbridge urged residents and the city to do more to recognize veterans. “Each day should be Veterans Day,” she said.
DBA Chairperson Leah Shelhorn called Veterans Appreciation Day “heartfelt and tearful.” She also endorsed the Purple Trail designation for I-780, promising the Council she would write a letter to Bonilla’s office urging her to take action.
Golovich urged others to do the same, asking supporters to email Bonilla’s office, and he asked the Council for its support.
Dr. Judith Bellafaire, chief historian at the Women’s Memorial Foundation, is leading the search for women who have received Purple Hearts, but it’s a challenge because there’s no centralized listing, she said.
“We have identified 287 women to date, but we believe more exist,” she recently told the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation.
Of these, 103 have earned their medals in contemporary wartime, particularly in the Middle East, in Operation Desert Storm and attacks on the Khobar Towers and on the USS Cole, as well as at the Pentagon. Others earned their medals in World War II, Korea and Vietnam, Bellafaire said.
“We need help from the community. Any woman who has received a Purple Heart, or anyone who knows of a woman recipient, living or deceased, should contact us,” she said, at history@womensmemorial.org or by calling 703-533-1155 or 800-222-2294.
Golovich said the number of women who will receive Purple Hearts not only will grow, but will increase faster because they no longer are limited to supportive assignments.
“Three hundred thousand have been deployed to the Middle East,” he said. “Women are tip-of-the-spear combatants.”
Those interested in emailing Bonilla may do so through her Assembly website, http://asmdc.org/members/a14. Letters can be sent to her at P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, Calif., 94249. Her office number is 916-319-2014.
Her Concord office receives mail at 2151 Salvio St., Suite 395, Concord, 94520; the office number is 925-521-1511.
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This project got it’s start from the City of Vallejo’s proclamation declaring themselves a Purple Heart City back on October 28th.. Vallejo Councilmember Verder-Aliga made comments relative to women recipients and the ongoing effort to identify more women’s Purple Heart honorees.
Councilmember Strawbridge took up the effort to identify Benicia among the ranks of cities nationwide making similar proclamations. The separate and unique concept of I-780 as a link to the Purple Heart Trail at I-80, dedicated to women recipients, is in Assemblymember Bonilla’s house for legislative consideration.
“War what is it good for, absolutely nothing”
—-The late Edwin Starr
Beyond the blind obedience to the military mindset—
From the above article:
“Mayor Elizabeth Patterson and Benicia City Council on Tuesday proclaimed Benicia a “Purple Heart City” in recognition of those who are wounded or have died in combat.”
And,
(Mr.) “Golovich said the number of women who will receive Purple Hearts not only will grow, but will increase faster because they no longer are limited to supportive assignments.”
“Three hundred thousand have been deployed to the Middle East,” he said. “Women are tip-of-the-spear combatants.”
Not a single mention in the above article about why these young people were killed or wounded? No mention of the war crimes and the crimes against humanity that have been perpetrated in our name in these foreign wars. No mention of the massacres. No mention of the cluster bombs. or the depleted uranium. No mention of torture and assassination. No mention of rape and pillage. No mention of George Washington’s warning of entanglements in faraway lands. No mention of President Eisenhower warning about the military-industrial complex. How sad . Just designate a stretch of highway –Purple Heart —and all is well, all is forgotten. How pathetic.
From the article below another perspective for Mr. Golovich and our appointed and elected leaders to contemplate…
“How Sick of It Are You”?
“We have screamed at the heavens and cried bitter tears. We’ve marched and picketed and gone to jail. And we are sick. Sick of the corruption–sick of the liars–sick of this war”!
“Because over a million innocents have died. Because the Democrats, who promised to end the war, have been in control of the budget now for almost a year and a half, and they have continued to fund the war. Because I’m disgusted with Bush, Cheney and the Democrats.”
“Like hamsters we run the wheel, never getting ahead. While our leaders kill, bomb & torture for fun and big profits. These soldiers are our sons & daughters and our government turns them into monsters–War is not glory it’s horror–This is not life!
It’s death described as life.”
http://www.counterpunch.org/2008/02/20/how-sick-of-it-are-you/
And more empty words from our Nobel Peace Prize winner from he article below:
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/11/22/endless-war-obama-secretly-extends-us-war-afghanistan
So by your logic Will, WWII was an effort that should not have been made?
Tell that to Mr. Page.
or to our Jewish friends
or to those that wore a pink star
How about the Civil War?
Would you prefer that the slaves had been held longer?
Yes, war is a bitch, but the alternative is unthinkable.
Will, start thinking.
Dennis you know very well Will is not a thinker. He lets the search engines do all his thinking.. Put him in a room without a computer and he will slowly lose his mind. Will you are a very sorry non patriot.
or to our Jewish friends
Bob,
I probably should not have added the above comment. I forgot that Will supports Hamas.
Bob Livesay – are you the Bob Livesay that was the organizer of the 1988 convoy? My mom is a Livesay and I happened across mention of Bob Livesay and the 1988 Veterans for Peace Convoy in a Livesay reunion article. Tam
Medals and monuments honor warriors, not wars.
For the record, my preference is “HIghway”, not “Trail”, if an act of the legislature is drafted to recognize I-780 accordingly. It would be a distinct and unique link to the Trail.
I respect all views here, and am grateful to those patriots who have and will continue to assure the freedoms we enjoy.