Read Ranch & Coast Virtually Anywhere
Issue link: http://ranchandcoast.uberflip.com/i/1519617
Located in Webb Park off Bernardo Center Drive, the memorial is the site of three major ceremonies each year, one on Memorial Day, one on Independence Day, and one on Veterans Day. "When you look at a WWII guy like Abe Baum, most were not career [servicemen]," says Paul Lebidine, a retired Marine general who lives at the Lakes in the Crosby, and who is the current president of the Rancho Bernardo Veterans Memorial Association. "Abe earned a Distinguished Cross. He was a real war hero. You can be sure when he came home, he had friends who were killed. at's what drives a person to create something like this," says Lebidine of the memorial, which honors all service members, including seven Rancho Bernardo locals who gave their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan in the wars that followed 9/11. e number of veterans living in Rancho Bernardo is not what it used to be, and the Abraham J. Baum Post recently merged with another VFW. "But there are young members coming onboard and getting involved," says Paul Atterbury, an attorney and retired Marine colonel who served with Lebidine in Iraq in 2010 and 2011. Atterbury, who is currently the organization's vice president, moved to Rancho Bernardo when he was assigned to Camp Pendleton in 2004. After returning from deployment in the Middle East, he was again stationed at Camp Pendleton, and that is when he and his wife bought a home in Rancho Bernardo. at is also when, on occasion, he started seeing a retired Army colonel in the community center weight room. "His name was David Epstein," says Atterbury, "and by the time I retired in 2014 we were good friends. He knew my whole family, and he was the one who first invited me to join him at the local VFW. If he were alive today, he'd be 86, so there is definitely a generational element to my involvement." ere is also a local element, Atterbury says, highlighting the organization's treasurer, Sam Magtanong, whose wife, Beverly, is also a member. "Sam is an even better illustration of how local veterans get involved. He served in Iraq, but didn't make a career of it. He's also a graduate of Rancho Bernardo High School, where he was a member of the school's madrigal choir, which has performed at every single Memorial Day ceremony since the memorial opened in 1994," says Atterbury. As Atterbury further explains, you do not have to be a veteran to get involved. e madrigal choir's director, Lisa Friedrichs, who recently retired from the Poway Unified School District, is now a board member, though she never served a day in uniform. Nor is Friedrichs the first civilian to serve on the board. Indeed, part of the association's mission is to teach American values, and while the Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies feature veterans, the Independence Day ceremonies feature civilian speakers. e association also works closely with other like-minded groups, including the Rancho Bernardo Historical Society, which hosts a pancake breakfast every year prior to the Memorial Day ceremony that is free for veterans, active-duty military, and children under three. In addition to the Rancho Bernardo High School Madrigals Choir, this year's ceremony will feature the Westview High School NJROTC Color Guard and Boy Scouts of America Troop 685. e keynote speaker will be Captain Gil "Duster" Rud, U.S. Navy (Retired). e memorial, which includes a Patriots Walk with plaques honoring locals who have served, is a special place for veterans and military families, but, as Atterbury says, "It is also a place for all Americans." rbvma.org Focus military << You can be sure when he came home, he had friends who were killed. at's what drives a person to create something like this. -Paul Lebidine " " ranchandcoast.com 38 MAY 2024 RANCH & COAST MAGAZINE