A Long-Awaited Salute to 15 Young Soldiers

CAMARILLO — Ronald Combs was only 3 when his brother, Kenneth, left for Vietnam in 1965.

And Ronald was 5 when a telegram was delivered to his Camarillo home, informing his family that the 21-year-old paratrooper from the 101st Airborne Division was missing in action.

One week later, a telegram was delivered confirming his death.

“I remember this big blond guy I used to climb all over,” said Ronald, now 36 and living in Paso Robles. “It was hard to understand. The thing that really got to me was when I saw my dad cry, because he was a big, strong guy that never cried.”

Kenneth Combs was one of the 15 Camarillo soldiers killed in the Vietnam War.

Twenty-eight years ago, a small plaque was placed at the base of a flagpole at the Pleasant Valley Swimming Pool to remember them.

Today, the Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District, along with Camarillo American Legion Post 741 and Camarillo Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 11424, will rededicate the facility to those 15 servicemen with a bronze plaque--this one bearing their names.

The somber Veterans Day ceremony comes as residents across Ventura County honor those who served in this nation’s wars.

Although the Camarillo plaque had been dedicated on Memorial Day in 1969, it apparently went unnoticed later because the area around it had been neglected for years.

It wasn’t until Kiwanis Club member Mary Grizzard-Paul and a group of children from Los Altos Middle School were weeding the area in March that the plaque was rediscovered.

“I had never noticed it before,” Grizzard-Paul said, adding that she tracked down the former park district board chairman who had been at the dedication in 1969 to find out why a permanent plaque with names had never been put in.

“It turns out that 15 men from Camarillo were killed in Vietnam and the community didn’t know anything about it,” Grizzard-Paul said.

After former parks Chairman Ken Huston was contacted, the park district decided to rededicate the facility with a permanent plaque on the wall.

“At the time we dedicated the swimming pool, the war had not yet ended,” Huston said. “Several were missing in action, so we did not know whether we had all of the names of the people. So we left it at that and thought subsequent boards would pick up the ball and have a proper plaque put in with their names on it.”

Nearly 30 years later, Huston will attend the rededication of the facility for the 15 boys he had coached or taught while a science instructor and sports coach at Camarillo High School.

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“It was probably as emotional of a time that I’ve ever been involved with and I suspect that tomorrow will probably be the same,” Huston said.

Indeed, many of the parents still find their sons’ deaths difficult to talk about.

The father of Michael Moritz recalled with sadness the day he received the telegram informing him that his son was missing in action. It arrived June 16, 1965. The next day the telegram came confirming his son’s death.

“You never get over something like this,” said William Moritz, 79, of Somis.

Michael was 22 when his helicopter was shot down while the crew tried to rescue a downed pilot, William said.

Barton Uplinger’s mother still gets tears in her eyes when she recalls the day she was notified of her son’s fatal helicopter crash.

A black-and-white photograph of Barton in his Marine Corps uniform still hangs in the den, a track award from a 1967 Camp Pendleton intramural track championship below it.

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And in her living room, the sword Barton received when he made captain hangs on the wall, framed.

“Your life goes on and on and this doesn’t come up, this is 30 years later,” Bernice said through her tears.

Kenneth Combs’ sister, Anita Stewart, was 23 when her little brother died.

“Kenny was a little on the short side, so it always makes me smile when my brother, Ron, remembers him as this big blond guy,” Anita said, adding that the last she remembers, Kenneth was about 5 feet, 4 inches.

“He was always asking me in his letters from Vietnam when I was going to make him an uncle,” said Anita, now 52 and still living in Camarillo. “The freaky thing was that the day I found out for sure I was pregnant was the day he was killed.”

Veterans Day Activities

Today is Veterans Day, a holiday to honor those who served in the United States armed services. The following is a list of some of the scheduled events:

* The Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District, in collaboration with Camarillo American Legion Post 741 and Camarillo Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 11424, will host a ceremony at 1:30 p.m. at the Pleasant Valley Swimming Pool. The Temple Avenue facility just north of Los Altos Middle School will be rededicated to the 15 area servicemen who died in the Vietnam War.

* Conejo Creek Park in Thousand Oaks will be the site of a Veterans Day ceremony and flyover from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. The event at 1379 E. Janss Road will feature a keynote address by Dr. Jon Williams, a three-time recipient of the Purple Heart.

* Veterans Day services will be held at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park in Ventura, 5400 Valentine Road, beginning at 11 a.m.

* The city of Oxnard will host a Veterans Day ceremony at the Oxnard High School Performing Arts Center, 3400 W. Gonzales Road. There will be a free continental breakfast at 9 a.m. hosted by the Oxnard Kiwanis Club and the Salvation Army, followed at 10 a.m. by a keynote address by retired U.S. Army Capt. Richard A. Brandeburg.