Remembering our Fallen, from California

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The Alpine Sun
To see a name, or a face on a memorial display, is often not enough to know the hero that made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.  It is when you can connect with that face, in a personal way that it all seems real, and touches your heart in a way that makes each face matter to you personally. Over 700 names and faces grace the transitional walls of the Remembering our Fallen, from California exhibit that is now on display at the Alpine Community Center.

The Alpine Sun
To see a name, or a face on a memorial display, is often not enough to know the hero that made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.  It is when you can connect with that face, in a personal way that it all seems real, and touches your heart in a way that makes each face matter to you personally. Over 700 names and faces grace the transitional walls of the Remembering our Fallen, from California exhibit that is now on display at the Alpine Community Center.
On Saturday, February 28, The Alpine Veterans’ Wall of Honor hosted a special celebration where they  added  more Heroes’ names to the Veteran’s wall of Honor, and also welcomed over 200 to see the Remember the Fallen Exhibit. During the ceremony there was a fly over by a 1963, SJN-5 “SASSY”. The flight was sponsored in equal parts by: Kamps Propane of Alpine, Craig Linden, Manager and MMC ”SS”, Jonathan A. Reinert, USN, Retired.
As the brochure for the exhibit says, “For families, there is nothing sweeter than the sound of a loved one’s name, and the lack of hearing  it can compound the grief already felt.” This exhibit strives to honor and remember those loved ones who have fallen in the line of duty of their country. There are names and faces from all over the state of California, including the local areas of: Alpine, Pine Valley, El Cajon, Santee, Ramona, Chula Vista, and La Mesa.  Just the names of the communities on these photographs make it all seem so much closer to home.
Upon entering the exhibit, the quiet honor creates the need for a sense of reverence.  Each official photograph of every hero is accompanied by another  photograph of that hero in a real life situation, smiling, laughing, enjoying friends and family, or holding a loved one.  Each face is a real person, who gave up a real life, here in our state of California, and some closer to home in our own communities.
These faces of men and women, strike a chord, because most of them are so very young to give up their lives, for their country.  Some died in combat situations, many died from IED’s, and one man from Pine Valley, Adrian Perkins died as a homicide in Jordan.
If the faces of these heroes along with glimpses of their lives don’t affect you in this exhibit, the notes from loved ones will.  Many photographs are littered with notes from loved ones, moms, dads, aunts, uncles, sons, daughters, nieces and nephews.  These notes of love and loss are reminders that these men and woman had so much to lose when they gave up their lives.  This exhibit is different from the granite markers that appear in other places, this is a mobile, and moving exhibit that will tour California to honor each one of these fallen soldiers.
If you haven’t had a chance to visit this exhibit yet, it will be at the Alpine Community Center until March 7th.

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