At the invitation of the Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation, I spent a lovely recent morning being reminded that our freedom is not “free.”
You see, as much as I complain about everything Caltrans-related there are times when they get it right.
This time, together with the help of the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments and others Caltrans’ District 5 project manager Joe Arnold (U.S. Marine Corps); Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara (USMC); SBCAG executive director Marjie Kirn; and PCVF’s chairman Barney Melekian (U.S. Coast Guard Reserve) were part of a touching World War I “Memorial Oaks” dedication at Loon Point Park in Carpinteria.
World War I, the so called “Great War,” raged from 1914 to Nov. 11,1918, and among the 116,516 fallen American heroes were 71 young Santa Barbarans.
Following the Armistice — we are swiftly approaching the 108-year anniversary — families from around the world created a living memorial to their more than 6 million lost loved ones by planting trees around the globe.
In Canada and the United Kingdom, maples sprang to life. In Australia, it was eucalyptus. Here in the United States it was the enduring oak.
On May 13, 1928, our own Santa Barbara American Legion Post 49 dedicated 71 coast oaks to those families who made the ultimate sacrifice.
These trees stretched for almost a quarter-mile between Summerland and Santa Claus Lane.
At this ceremony, when Santa Barbara’s population was just 30,000, more than 500 residents attended.
As it relates to these living monuments many still remained when the Highway 101 widening project began more than 20 years ago.
As the project moved forward, Caltrans had the foresight and compassion to consider the importance of these trees and what it was that they represented.
So in 2019, Caltrans painstakingly collected, sorted, preserved and ultimately germinated acorns from these original veteran oaks.
When the saplings were threatened by wildfire they moved and protected them, and when they could find a safe and suitable location, including Loon Park, they replanted them.
On Nov. 5, the entire 98-year saga came to a fitting end when three panels that tell the history of the war, the oaks and the Santa Barbara fallen were dedicated with — I’m sorry to say — far too little fanfare.
I felt blessed to be there on the heels of what has been a contentious local election cycle. There was a sense of the spiritual sitting under the Loon Park oaks, watching the color guard and listening to Melekian, the former Santa Barbara interim police chief, recite John McCrae’s famous poem, “In Flanders Field.”
If you have a chance, bring your children to visit so that they can understand the sacrifice that far too many have made for us to enjoy the freedoms that our delicate democracy affords us.
Even if you don’t make the trip, please think about these young men, some with Santa Barbara family names that you will recognize, as you drive past the Padaro Lane exit and consider the Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation’s reason for being:
“To be killed in war is not the worst that can happen. To be lost is not the worst that can happen … to be forgotten is the worst.”
