Wall for veteran will stay at park in Whittier
Despite pushback from Quakers, council reaffirms its placement
A 4-by-10-foot memorial wall honoring the late Jose Ramos, a former Army combat medic from Whittier who worked for more than a decade to get official recognition for a day honoring Vietnam War veterans, will remain at Central Park.
Overriding objections from members of the Whittier First Friends Church, the Whittier City Council voted 4-0 — Councilwoman Jessica Martinez was absent — on Tuesday to keep the memorial, which drew opposition because of its warlike scenes.
“I cannot in good faith look at the Ramos family and disrespect them and Vietnam veterans, specifically, by hiding this memorial,” Councilman Octavio Cesar Martinez said. “It needs to remain exactly where it is in Central Park, where he lived nearby and started his legendary historic bike ride from Central Park.”
But Quakers argued that Central Park, which they said was donated to the community as a place of quiet, is the wrong location.
“Please honor our local hero Jose Ramos by following your original decision to place his memorial with those of our other Whittier heroes,” Gwen Woirhaye, a longtime member of the church, said in a letter read at the meeting by Marilyn Fant, referring to Whittier City Hall.
“By doing so you will avoid dishonoring the memory and beliefs of the Quakers who, before selling any building lots, set aside the area now known as Central Park, to be a place of serenity and meditation for the people of the Quaker Colony, predating by a decade the city of Whittier, Woirhaye wrote.
Members of the Friends church in March began protesting the location. But in response, numerous veterans and others said that to move the monument would be to dishonor Ramos and veterans.
“This piece of art should stay where it is,” Adrian Morales, president of Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day, said.
“This is a piece of art that all veterans should get a chance to see,” Morales said. “I may not live in the city of Whittier, but I visit a lot, and I make my way to places like this. I'm hoping in the near future it will be available for presentation not only to all veterans here in Whittier but for all Whittierites who probably don't even know it's there.”
Jose Ramos' wife, Sylvia, in a Wednesday telephone interview, said Central Park was where her husband would have wanted the monument.
“When Jose went on his bicycle trip to Washington, D.C., it began at Central Park,” she said, referring to her late husband's advocacy rides on behalf of Vietnam veterans.
Ramos, who worked in the emergency rooms of Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center and at Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital before retiring in 1999, parlayed his advocacy into bicycle tours that brought attention to the cause.
He first rode in 1998 in a bicycle tour through Vietnam with other war veterans from both sides of the conflict. Two years later, Ramos rode his bicycle from Whittier to Washington, D.C., to ask then-President George W. Bush to proclaim March 30 a holiday remembering Vietnam veterans.
In 2004, Ramos again led a bike ride, this time from Irwindale to Washington, D.C., with seven other cyclists.
Through his advocacy, Ramos was instrumental in California establishing March 30 as Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day in 2009, followed by its formal recognition by the U.S. Senate in 2011. He stood by Arnold Schwarzenegger when the former governor signed the bill into law in 2009.
All told, Ramos' advocacy for Vietnam veterans spanned decades after returning from his tour of duty in the country, where he served from 1967-68.
Central Park always remained special, his wife said.
“There was an event there,” Sylvia Ramos said of the Central Park location. “We're so happy the City Council decided to go with the decision it made in the first place.”
City officials began planning a memorial for Ramos in 2018, a year after he died. But it went through several iterations and locations. His bicycle eventually was given to the Whittier Museum for a display, and on a 3-2 consensus, the council on advise of the Ramos family, picked Central Park.
Councilwoman Cathy Warner, one of the dissenters, again on Tuesday, suggested City Hall.
“I'd like as many people to see this monument and develop a respect and understanding for Ramos,” she said.
However, when it came to the vote, Warner voted with her three colleagues, saying the vote should be unanimous.
The monument is nearly done but a dedication date for when it will be unveiled has yet to be set, Virginia Santana, director of Parks, Recreation and Community services, said.