Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Another one to remember from Vietnam

San Dieguito Academy memorializes student who died in 1971

Armando Diaz Ramos
Armando Diaz Ramos

It may have been 12 years in the making, but U.S. Army corporal Armando Diaz Ramos, killed in service during the Vietnam era, received a hero’s recognition on Veteran’s Day, November 11.

“Mando” was not necessarily recognized for how he served his country but for being part of a close-knit neighborhood and a high school that appreciated his ultimate sacrifice.

Just the right amount of space was on the memorial for Ramos's name

Dedicated on Veteran’s Day 2003, a concrete-and-marble monument is just inside San Dieguito Academy high school campus' main entrance off Santa Fe Drive in Encinitas. hosts a fallen alumni veterans’ memorial. The memorial to students who died in service during World War II, Korea, and Vietnam contains 19 names.

Sponsored
Sponsored

For some reason, the 1969 graduate was left off the original 2003 list. It could be that Department of Defense records indicated Ramos wasn’t initially reported as killed in action, or specifically in Vietnam.

In 1971, Ramos was training in Germany just prior to being shipped out to Southeast Asia. He and a fellow soldier were accidentally run over by a tank.

In September, close family friends and retired USMC warrant officer Solomon Saenz brought the issue to the school’s alumni association. Together with the family, plans were made to add Ramos’s name and honor him in a special ceremony.

The engraver who worked on the 2003 monument gladly came to the campus to place Ramos’s name. There happened to be one spot left in the space dedicated to casualties of the Vietnam era. Ramos’s name fit perfectly with his fellow fallen classmates.

“After high school, he was a ranger at Felicita Park. He loved the environment and wanted to make sure kids were safe playing in the outdoors,” said Saenz during the ceremony, offered in both English and Spanish. “He was always a helpful, loving, respectful, humorous young man.”

“When he got the draft letter, he was honored to be asked to serve and protect his country,” Saenz added.

Thirty days before shipping out to Vietnam, Ramos was to return briefly from Germany to his Solana Beach neighborhood of Eden Garden and marry his love, Helen “Chunkie” Hernandez, from the school’s class of ’71.

Over 50 family members, friends, alumni, and current students joined the unveiling of the monument’s 20th name and to honor Ramos as a hometown boy.

Ramos’s father, Carlos, along with Hernandez, laid flowers beneath his name on the monument, to the cheers and tears from his numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins in attendance.

Fortunately, it was reported to the gathering that no alumni names have needed to be added from Iraq or Afghanistan. The ceremony closed with a group affirmation: “Let there be peace on Earth and let it begin with me.”

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

2024’s Best Bitcoin & Crypto Casinos – Play BTC Casino Games Online

Best Bitcoin Casinos (2024): Top 10 Crypto Casino Sites for BIG Payouts
Armando Diaz Ramos
Armando Diaz Ramos

It may have been 12 years in the making, but U.S. Army corporal Armando Diaz Ramos, killed in service during the Vietnam era, received a hero’s recognition on Veteran’s Day, November 11.

“Mando” was not necessarily recognized for how he served his country but for being part of a close-knit neighborhood and a high school that appreciated his ultimate sacrifice.

Just the right amount of space was on the memorial for Ramos's name

Dedicated on Veteran’s Day 2003, a concrete-and-marble monument is just inside San Dieguito Academy high school campus' main entrance off Santa Fe Drive in Encinitas. hosts a fallen alumni veterans’ memorial. The memorial to students who died in service during World War II, Korea, and Vietnam contains 19 names.

Sponsored
Sponsored

For some reason, the 1969 graduate was left off the original 2003 list. It could be that Department of Defense records indicated Ramos wasn’t initially reported as killed in action, or specifically in Vietnam.

In 1971, Ramos was training in Germany just prior to being shipped out to Southeast Asia. He and a fellow soldier were accidentally run over by a tank.

In September, close family friends and retired USMC warrant officer Solomon Saenz brought the issue to the school’s alumni association. Together with the family, plans were made to add Ramos’s name and honor him in a special ceremony.

The engraver who worked on the 2003 monument gladly came to the campus to place Ramos’s name. There happened to be one spot left in the space dedicated to casualties of the Vietnam era. Ramos’s name fit perfectly with his fellow fallen classmates.

“After high school, he was a ranger at Felicita Park. He loved the environment and wanted to make sure kids were safe playing in the outdoors,” said Saenz during the ceremony, offered in both English and Spanish. “He was always a helpful, loving, respectful, humorous young man.”

“When he got the draft letter, he was honored to be asked to serve and protect his country,” Saenz added.

Thirty days before shipping out to Vietnam, Ramos was to return briefly from Germany to his Solana Beach neighborhood of Eden Garden and marry his love, Helen “Chunkie” Hernandez, from the school’s class of ’71.

Over 50 family members, friends, alumni, and current students joined the unveiling of the monument’s 20th name and to honor Ramos as a hometown boy.

Ramos’s father, Carlos, along with Hernandez, laid flowers beneath his name on the monument, to the cheers and tears from his numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins in attendance.

Fortunately, it was reported to the gathering that no alumni names have needed to be added from Iraq or Afghanistan. The ceremony closed with a group affirmation: “Let there be peace on Earth and let it begin with me.”

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Making Love to Goats, Rachmaninoff, and Elgar

Next Article

Flowering pear trees in Kensington not that nice

Empty dirt plots in front of Ken Cinema
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.