Community Corner

WWII Ship Gets Blue Star from El Cerrito Garden Club

Lacking the required garden for a Blue Star Marker, the El Cerrito Garden Club created one in pots. The marker honoring those in the armed forces was dedicated by the club at the SS Red Oak Victory in Richmond on Memorial Day.

Perhaps the most memorable Memorial Day event for El Cerrito Monday took place in Richmond.

The , in cooperation with the Richmond Museum of History, in honor of the men and women who serve in the U.S. armed forces.

The marker set in stone was placed on the dock next to the SS Red Oak Victory, an ammunition ship from World War II that was built at the Kaiser shipyards and is being restored as a historical memorial.

Find out what's happening in El Cerritowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

El Cerrito Mayor Bill Jones, one of the speakers at the ceremony that drew about 130 people, recalled that his father was a veteran of the Coast Guard from World War II. 

"He was a proud veteran," Jones said, "... but when I asked him about war itself, he just shook his head. He said war isn't good. We paid a terrible price, a big price, in this country for fighting for our freedom. He said we lost a tremendous amount of our young people in that war, where they could have been people that built the country, built our bridges, teachers, firefighters, police. ... He said instead they had to give the ulimate price for us to live here today."

Find out what's happening in El Cerritowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Blue Star Memorial Program is a longstanding project of the National Garden Clubs dating back to World War II. It began in honor of veterans of that war and has since been expanded to honor all who serve.

The one placed at the SS Red Oak Victory was the third sponsored by the El Cerrito Garden Club – the first installed in 2000 at El Cerrito City Hall and the second at El Cerrito's Arlington Park in 2009. It is Richmond's first Blue Star Marker.

But before the marker could be placed next to the Red Oak Victory, the garden club had to overcome an obstacle. The markers are supposed to placed on highways, at cemeteries or veterans hospitals, or in an appropriate garden setting.

The Red Oak Victory was none of those. The solution to this problem was described by Lois Boyle, president of the Richmond Museum of History.

"This project began about two years ago," Boyle told the audience. The head of the El Cerrito Garden Club's Blue Star Marker committee, Esther Sergeant, discussed with Boyle the idea of placing a marker at the ship. But there was a snag.

"This wonderful dock is not a garden," Boyle said.

"So we created a garden," she added, indicating the pots of flowers and plants surrounding the Blue Star Marker. 

Boyle also surprised Sergeant when she informed the assemblage that a new gold leaf in honor of Sergeant will be added to the ship's on-board red oak, which is adorned with special leaves of gold for distinguished individuals.

At that moment Sergeant gasped, "I'm speechless!"

And Boyle quickly rejoined with, "That's a miracle – I've known Esther for 40 years."

It was a light-hearted moment in a morning ceremony that mixed levity with somber remembrance.

Leading the pledge of allegiance was ship's Chief Engineer Bill Jackson, a veteran of the merchant marine from the war, who told of the high casualty rate among his fellow merchant marines, second to only to combat marines.

"It's great to be here today to see all you people and pay tribute to the all the men who didn't make it back," Jackson said. 

The ceremony included a presentation of colors as veterans from the various branches of the military presented their service flags, and performances with guitar of the "Star Spangled Banner" and "America the Beautiful" by Jun Simundo, an El Cerrito postman.

Richmond City Councilman Tom Butt solemnized the occasion by turning to Lincoln's Gettysburg Address for inspiration:

"It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they have thus far so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that those dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."

The Red Oak Victory is part of the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park, which also includes the Rosie the Riveter Memorial and a Visitor Education Center, which had .

Don't miss any local news. Get the day's headlines and events – plus any breaking news alerts – by subscribing to the El Cerrito Patch email newsletter.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here