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Dennis served in the US Air Force for 10 years, achieving the rank of Technical Sergeant. He was stationed at Beale Air Force base as a member of the 12th and 13th Reconnaissance Squadrons. The 12th and 13th Reconnaissance Squadron is an associate unit that provides theater commanders with near-real-time intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and target acquisition data. The squadron operates and maintains deployable, long-endurance RQ-4 Global Hawk aircraft and ground control elements to fulfill training and operational requirements generated by the Joint Chiefs of Staff in support of unified commanders and the Secretary of Defense. He also instructed fellow sensors operators on tactics and techniques for the job at the 13th squadron.

Dennis has been a California Highway Patrol officer for six years. He patrols the beautiful eastern sierras. His mission is to return home every night to his family after providing the highest level of Safety, Service, and Security to his community.

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My father Mel Wittenborn joined the army shortly after Pearl Harbor. He was barely 18 and was under George Patton during WWII. He was a gunner with the tanks and was stationed in France and Germany. He joined the Calvary division because growing up on a farm he was an excellent horseman. Unfortunately once he got into the army he realized the Calvary was tankers, not horses. LOL.

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My grandfather Warren D Rayburn was born in Texas and was known as "Sam" like the speaker of the house.  He joined the Army Air Corp during World War II and due to the need for pilots he was trained and became a member of the Flying Sergeants.  He flew in World II, Korea, and one tour in Vietnam.  One of his best stories was about his involvment in D-Day.  He is actually referenced in the book "The Longest Day." My grandfather was very private about many of his experiences but also very proud of our country.  He retired with the rank Lutenant Colonel here at Castle Airforce Base in 1968.  I am very proud of my Papa.

Shane Gentry

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Thank you for your service, Al Garcia & Steven Whitmore! We are forever grateful for your sacrifices and past/current service.

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Our new AP, David Rogers, is a veteran. Thank you for your service, Mr. Rogers!

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I would like to give a huge shout out to my Grandfather Joseph Belt who served in the Air Force at the age of 17 and retired as A Chief Master Sergeant in 1982. My uncle Curtiss Belt who was a Sergeant in the Marines and retired in 2008 and lastly my brother Guy Belt Jr was a Specialist E-4 logistics "Quartermaster" in the Army and retired in 2006. I am so proud of all of them.

Angela Jackson

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My brother, Gunnery Sergeant David Zarate served 22 years in the USMC. He did two tours in Iraq and was stationed in Okinawa, Hawaii, San Diego and a few other spots. I have several cousins who have served in the USMC; AirForce and Army. But I am especially proud of my big brother.

Angelica Zarate

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Today's edition of From the Archives honors a former BC student that paid the ultimate price while serving our country as a United States Marine.

The October 2007 edition of the BC Times had been put to bed and was just hours away from being printed when news hit the BC campus that Josh Pickard had been killed while serving in Iraq.  This "stop the presses" moment meant that the front page needed to be scrapped immediately to make way for the sobering news.  Editor-in-Chief and BC senior Erica Voris scrambled to meet the new deadline and honor Pickard.

When we cast our gaze upon Pickard's picture on the east wall of the gym, let us never forget his sacrifice.  Take a moment to thank a veteran for their service today.

TIMOTHY ERICKSEN

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Both of my grandfathers served in the Air Force. They finished their tours in Atwater, which is how my parents met. My uncle was a Marine and my brother served in Iraq in the Army. All made it home safely but never really talked about their time. I was given a few short stories growing up, and was always mesmerized by the details they all could recall and were willing to share.

Brianna Fulkerson

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My Dad was in the Korean War. He got the job of driving around the USO entertainment. My Great Uncle Freddy died during WWII and is buried in Arlington. My Uncle Bob was on the USS Maryland during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Last but not least my nephew Kyle, who is active military, is 82nd Airborne stationed at Fort Bragg. He is a Helicopter Pilot and Medic.

KATHY COMETTA

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My dad and brother served in the Air Force, and my uncle served in the Army.

Mike Richter

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It seems appropriate to share one about my cousin, Emmet.  He served as a sniper in the Army in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and is now a high school history teacher in Ventura, CA.  He even received a Bronze Star Medal at a ceremony in front of his students a handful of years ago.  If interested, here is a link to an article about that day.  While he is proud of his military service, he is equally as proud to be a teacher.

Erin Franklin

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I want to thank my Father who served in Vietnam while in the U.S,Navy and my brother who served in the U.S. Air Force.

ORLANDO HENRY

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My grandfather was in the Navy and served on the USS Arizona.  He always wore his baseball style USS Arizona hat proudly until the day he died.

Jen Euker

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My grandfather served in WW2 in the army. I'm not sure what he did, and we were told not to ask. My father served in the Vietnam war firing surface to air missiles. My parents married just before he deployed out of fear something may happen. He returned, but was never the same man, according to my mother. The picture is of my oldest. He earned NCO of the year this year at Malmstrom AFB in Montana where he is NCO in charge of confinement. He is military police, and runs the on base jail now. He has deployed twice, and was shot during basic training in a training mishap, ironically enough.

Ron Saxton

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My late father served 23yrs+ in the military. He lied about his age at 17 and joined the Navy in 1944. He served as a radioman-gunner on a torpedo plane in the latter part of  WWII. His ship was sunk by Japanese kamikaze planes and he told me the jump off the ship was a long way down and hitting the water nearly broke his back. He was later discharged from the Navy in 1946 or 1947. Ironically after he retired much later in 1971 our next door neighbor was in the same Navy fleet but on a different ship and his ship was sunk during the same battle as well - such a small world. In 1950 my father was drafted into the Army (Fresno) and was stationed at the former Camp Stoneman in the Bay area for 2yrs, he then reenlisted and was deployed to the Korean War in 1952. During one of the latter battles of the Korean War my father was wounded and spent some time in nearby Japan. I was named after the fellow soldier who was killed pulling my father back to safety after he was wounded according to my mother. My father met and married my mother in 1957 in Japan and they returned to Ft Ord in 1958 where my father then served as a military policeman (MP). During this period while serving in one of Ft Ord's garrison's towers, my father was injured after the tower was hit by a lightning strike. The Army wanted to give him a medical discharge but he fought it and was able to retrain as a Military Postal Clerk which he served as for the rest of his military career. The whole family spent some time at Schofield barracks in Hawaii and during this time (1967-1968) my father served under the U.S. Army Support Command in Thailand (USARSUPTHAI) at several US Air Force bases making sure the US mail got thru to all the military branches operating out of Thailand for the VietNam war. My father's last 2 years in the Army were served at Camp Drake and Camp Zama in Japan and he retired in 1971.

A couple years later after he finally retired I vividly recall my father telling me one morning he wished he would have stayed in the Army for another enlistment. He loved the US Army! Like so many military combat veterans my father suffered from PTSD and would rarely talk about his combat experiences. If my father had been drinking he would only then open up some. There used to be a TV documentary series in the 70's named "The World At War" and my father watched every episode and would sometimes acknowledge the various combat footage. We lost several close military family friends during the Vietnam War and I am still friends with those veteran's now grown up kids. We as a country should never take our freedoms for granted!

Stacy Willoughby

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My grandfather on my mom's side lied about his age (16) in order to serve as infantry in the Great War (WW1). His regimental commander discovered a bunch of those kids and instead of sending them home, the colonel (regimental commander) assigned them less hazardous duties. Lee Coker (grandpa) became a 16-year-old ambulance driver. A century ago there was a very different notion of risk. It was understood as inappropriate to assign them to infantry, but it was also considered inappropriate to send them home if they could be otherwise employed. Also, the regiment took an interest in their men enough to figure out who was lying about their age - probably imperfectly as with all human endeavors. My uncle Kermit was a Marine in the Pacific theater and was captured by the Japanese army. He was an accountant in civilian life and came back to California as a walking skeleton. It took two years to put some dimension back on him and it took that two years as well for him to be cognitively capable of doing his trade again. My uncle Robert (dad's side) volunteered for the Royal Air Force. He was an economics professor at Sacramento State so the Brits had him prepare daily readiness reports for Great Britain's bomber command. This was critical since the losses were huge and the ready-rate after each mission was about 25%. Another uncle flew P38s in Italy. Another uncle graduated from Bold Law School and had started a criminal defense practice so he was perfect for the Judge Advocate General's office as a criminal defense attorney. After the WW2 JAG service he went back into practice as a criminal defense attorney specializing in defending those accused of murder. My dad was drafted after graduating college (economics and Latin). He landed in Oran, Algeria on a Land Ship Tank after the battle of the Kasserine Pass. He was the XO (executive officer) for an anti-aircraft artillery 90mm-rifled battery. Since that 90mm was the piece that had a proximity fused shell, it was used for ground support and pile-box eradication as well as shooting down German ME109s. It was the main ground piece of WW2 for the US. He ended the war at the Po River, Venetia as Captain of the AAA 90mm artillery battery. On the invasion of Sicily, we witnessed the US navy shoot US paratroopers in that infamous friendly fire incident (friendly fire isn't friendly). The US Air Force (Army Air Corps) dropped bombs over his position. Obviously, they went down range but killed some American officers at their division HQ (I-Corps). It is difficult to know what you are looking at from 7,000 feet. He got a commendation for not shooting them down - that is what the commendation dispatch actually read. He and a superior officer (college friend) were scouting a new gun position when eight enemy Austrian soldiers approached him to surrender. He and his buddy Archie were unarmed, but the Austrians were sufficiently happy to have someone to whom they could surrender.  They put them all in the jeep and drove them back to division HQ (I-Corps). Later that week the US infantry captured their German officer who was looking for the eight - apparently he was an angry little Junker (Prussian minor nobleman). His 90mm battery consisted of Cajuns who didn't speak English very well, Czech and Polish personnel, Americans for the radar, guns, fire directing machine and the M2 50 caliber (all weapons), and a Swedish cook. Their night guards (slept all day) were Moroccan Goumier that were hired for that purpose (well the real purpose was to free up American infantry for other purposes). The officers conducted English instruction. They were probably Spanish Moroccan, but since Spain was a nominal German ally and Vichy France had switched sides to the allies the US Army ordered US personnel to call all Goumier "French Goumier." As silly as that might sound to us today it probably was a good thing for the Moroccan soldiers because they did need to be integrated into a group of trained killers. Many US soldiers were resentful that their lives were interrupted by another European war. They were not likely to have a sense of humor about any group associated with Germany - however tangentially that association might have been. Remember Francisco Franco wasn't really a helpful ally to Italy or Germany, but he was an ally. This is where the story ends since I can't relay what his "French" Goumier did on night patrol. Suffice it to say no Italian or German ever infiltrated their gun emplacements and no sniper took out a single American or auxiliary in the battery. Just say nothing or thanks and don't ask questions my dad would say - he admired the Goumier, they seemed like natural soldiers. Needless to say, they didn't really guard the perimeter - that kind of Marshall feat is done with combat patrols. I'm just adding that the Goumier always came back with more boots than they left with. It is good to have such excellent soldiers on your side.

Lee Robinson

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My grandfather, his twin brother, and their younger brother all served in the European theater in WW2.  My grandfather and his twin were both in the Army Air Force and were bombardier's in a B-24 bomber.  My grandfather's twin was shot down over Europe and spent the remainder of the war in a German POW camp, but he survived.  My grandfather's younger brother Donald was a tank commander.  His tank was hit while pushing the Germans back through France.  There were no survivors.  My father was named for his Uncle Donald.  Upon returning home, my grandfather joined the Navy and served four additional years in the Navy.  Picture of the twins attached.

ROBERT SHALJEAN

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My Great-Grandfather fought in the Army in WWII and was able to bring back some pretty amazing pieces for my Great Grandmother. We also have his journal full of accounts from his time overseas, which is pretty incredible!! My grandfather was Army and a part of the 101st Airborne in the Vietnam war!

Katilynn Heinrichs

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These are my grandfathers. One Navy and one Army during WWII. One was on a Naval refueling ship during the war and after medical school he reenlisted and worked at a Naval hospital. The other was stationed in Texas doing burn research in a lab.

JENNIFER SOUSA

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My grandfather was a ski trooper and front line medic in Italy during WWII.  The picture below (he is on the left) is courtesy of a school project by a student at Westwood high school that is displayed in the Westwood museum. He received a bronze star for heroic action. There are accounts in this same display, one of my favorites is of his saving 11 soldiers in a vehicle that fits 4.

Julie Cook

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My Dad was drafted into the Army while waiting to finish his enlistment in The Marines,  in 1951 and served three tours of duty in The Korean War. While in his line Company in The 1st Cavalry Division, he volunteered to take an enemy Machine Gun nest. There were 11 enemy combatants there, He decided to do this when no one else after many hours, would take the risk. He got prepared with his BAR and two hand grenades, made his way up a steep embankment, against extreme enemy fire, after a short period of time, though it seemed much longer, he laid on his back and through each hand grenade over the top of the trench, that the Chinese enemy was located. He waited until the second-hand grenade went off and then went over the top and used his Bar to eliminate the 7 enemy tropo[ps still there and then climbed over the other side and saw 100 plus enemy troops retreating across the Rice fields about 100 yards or so away, just about that time two of his members made it up the hill and saw what was done then began "cleaning up" and then his sergeant ordered him to shoot every enemy troop he could with his Bar, so of course he did..... The next day he was asked to join an I and R platoon, ( Intelligence and Recon) he did and the next tour of duty was ambush enemy patrols. There is much more to tell... of his two years in Korea and Okadio Japan.  My Dad was awarded the Silver Star for bravery for neutralizing that machine gun nest.

My father is still with us today he is 92 and many of his soldier friends spent many days in our home growing up talking about some of their experiences. War is a terrible thing... My Dad remembers all the smallest of details and began talking about them...  a year or so after he got back... when one Monday afternoon, walking through his hometown of San Francisco... on market st. a Cab slammed his trunk ... the next thing he knew he was being helped up off the sidewalk with a bloody nose, he had just done what he had done 100's of times in his " fox hole" in Korea. From that moment forward he decided he would always talk about everything he saw and experienced in Korea.

Also, Grandfather My Dad's dad, Fought in Europe in WW! and was a  Bombardier in the Army Air Corp, in A Dehavelan Bomber, flying in England. !st they would drop the Bombs on the Germans along the western front, then they would fly "home"... in order to make it back to England they had to fly over the White Cliffs of Dover, so my grandfather as soon as they dropped the bombs had to make his way out to one of the wings and become the balance to help the plane balance up and make it back  In his 13 and last flight he was wounded from shelling and came home back to San Francisco on a stretcher. He was 20, lived until he was 66.

John G. Bliss

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My father was a WWII Veteran.  He was drafted while working as a welder in the Oakland shipyards making liberty ships for the war effort.  He was stationed in the Philippines and was then dispatched to Japan to clean up after their surrender.  He walked through Hiroshima and saw firsthand the damage of the bomb.  We have pictures that he took.  He had a purple heart awarded to him and he carried the shrapnel in his back that he took to the grave. His excitement for coming home was interrupted by coming down with malaria on the boat back home.   Sometime after my father's passing, my aunt gave me some letters my dad wrote to his parents while in the service.  Those letters are testimony to what war is to a service member.  My father, like so many, did not speak much of the combat they experienced.  After reading those letters I have a very vivid understanding of why.  To be honest, I have not been able to read them in their entirety. War can be hell for those who live it firsthand.

My maternal grandfather was drafted during WWI. Luckily for him, the surrender happened as he was waiting to board the boat for his scheduled deployment to Europe, and he was sent back home to Waterford, Ca.   As a side note, while in New York before being deployed to Europe, he bought a glass vase to send home to his mother just before his scheduled deployment to the European front so she had something to remember him by if he did not return.  My great-grandmother got both the vase and my grandfather back.  I have since acquired the vase in the past few months and I have given it to my daughter, Morgan.  I am very curious what made it back first to Waterford, Ca, my grandfather, or the vase?

Roger Johnson

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My Aunt: Afghanistan, Major Sergeant in the Army
My Cousins: Kuwait, Iraq, Marine Corp
My Father: Vietnam Veteran, Air Force Military Police
My Uncle: Korea, Marine Corp, Purple Heart Recipient
My Grandfather: WWII,  Navy.
My Great-Uncle: WWII, Navy. Went down on the USS Indianapolis, the last ship to be sunk after the war was officially over.
My Great-Grandfather: WWI and WWII. Navy.
My Other Great-Grandfather: Spanish-American War. We still have his handwritten notes home from  over 100 years ago.

Jaime Burroughs

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Both of my grandfathers fought in WWII. One (my dad's dad) was in the army, stationed mostly in the Philippines and Alaska--before it was a state!!! My other grandfather was in the navy first. He lied about his age so he could join at 17 instead of waiting. Then he joined the army, stationed mostly in Germany and Italy. It was then they finally realized how smart he was (genius level, they tested him) and he was transferred to military intelligence, specifically working as a spy behind the Iron Curtain. Both families lived in Nevada for a while, and that is how my parents met. Yippee! I exist!

I forgot to mention that my dad was in the National Guard and worked as an MP and arms instructor. One time he was giving a presentation to a class and he cut his hand. He just kept going with the lesson, even though blood was going everywhere. His class was freaked out, but he told them you can't stop if you're bleeding, you have to keep going until your gun is usable and any situation is taken care of. Good lesson for life, that.

Christina McNeil

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My Father was in the army during WWII under General Patton. He was a tank gunner with the Calvary. He chose the cavalry because being raised on a ranch and an avid horse rider he figured that would be a good fit. What he came to realize was that the cavalry had metal shoes rather than horseshoes. LOL

Nancy Williamson