Attendees of the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce’s monthly Government Affairs Forum on Thursday, March 3, will be treated to a preview of the planned Arcadia Vietnam War Monument proposed to be installed at L.A. County’s Arcadia Park.
This month’s featured speaker is Gene Glasco, a Vietnam veteran who is also Arcadia’s elected City Clerk — he is running unopposed for re-election this March/April. Gene is spearheading this effort that already has the endorsement of L.A. County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich and the Arcadia Elks. Antonovich, who served in the U.S. Army Reserves for eight years and is very supportive of war veterans causes, hosts a very popular “Salute To Veterans And Their Families” event every May in the County’s Arcadia Park which always has attracted large crowds from all over Southern California.
As always, the Forum that runs from 8 a.m. – 9:15 a.m.-ish also includes a discussion of pending legislation and other updates provided by representatives from City, County, and State government offices, the Monrovia-Arcadia-Duarte Town Council, and others.
Gene Glasco
From 1967 – 1974 fourteen Arcadia servicemen were killed in hostile actions while fighting the war in Vietnam. In their honor and in tribute to all living Vietnam veterans, construction of an Arcadia Vietnam War Monument has been proposed to Los Angeles County officials for installation in the County’s Arcadia Park by late May 2016.
The Arcadia Vietnam War Monument project is a vision that Gene Glasco, the monument’s founder, Vietnam veteran and Arcadia City Clerk, has had for many years. One of Glasco’s high school classmates, Eugene Hicks, was an Army Infantryman who began his tour of duty in Vietnam on December 3, 1967. A little more than one month later he was killed in action on January 16, 1968.
“I returned home from Vietnam but (Eugene) didn’t,” Glasco said. “Building a monument in his honor is the least I can do for (Eugene) and fellow Arcadians who lost their lives in South Vietnam.”
Glasco says that if the approval process goes smoothly and the $50,000 needed to complete the project can be raised, construction could be completed in time to dedicate the Monument on May 28, 2016 to coincide with Supervisor Antonovich’s final Salute To Veterans event before he ends his career as a Supervisor.
Donations for the Arcadia Vietnam War Monument can be made to the Arcadia Elks Lodge, 27 West Huntington Drive, Arcadia, CA 91007 or by credit card by visiting the Arcadia Vietnam Monument website (www.ArcadiaVietnamMonument.org/contribute).
The public is invited at 8 a.m. on the first Thursday of each month (except July & August) to hear free informative presentations at the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce’s monthly Government Affairs Forum. Led by Chairman Jack Orswell from Orswell & Kasman, Inc. Environmental Assessments & Consulting, the Forums are held in the Chamber’s conference room sponsored by Foothill Credit Union.
RSVPs to the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce office are appreciated – (626) 447-2159 or info@ArcadiaCaChamber.org.
