My name is Tyler Perez and am a current student at College of the Canyons.
The idea that the inability to find names for Santa Clarita Valley World War I veterans is getting in the way of the completion of the whole veterans monument is a very discouraging truth.
Veterans make the ultimate sacrifice after enlisting into the military, and that is the self-knowledge that he or she may never come back home.
As a fellow veteran who served in the 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S Army and is an OEF Afghan war veteran, I stand by fellow veterans and the local Santa Clarita Valley community to finish the building of this monument.
We need to finish this monument for the simple fact that it gives veterans and families of fallen heroes a place of recognition for their selfless acts. It displays the importance and relevance of their commitment to duty, regardless of which conflict they were involved in.
Just because there are no current residents of the SCV who died on duty during WWI is not a worthy reason to not recognize all the other service members who have died – whose families and loved ones want to see a physical object of gratitude from their local community.
I request this on behalf of the friends I have lost during my time of service, and all other members who have made the ultimate sacrifice.
While my friends who have lost their lives will not be featured on this monument, if they were from the SCV I would be appalled and feel personally wounded that they were not.
Not because the funding was not available, or that the space allotted was not sufficient, but because there are not any names under World War I lost.
Please help the community and myself complete the construction of the Fallen Warriors Monument at Veterans Historical Plaza.
Tyler Perez
Canyon Country