Tag: heroes

Labor Day stickball returns to Little Italy!

Young player on the Sidewalk Slammers team takes a swing during the early innings of a fungo-style stickball game.

Big news! After several years’ absence, the big Labor Day weekend stickball tournament is returning to the streets of Little Italy!

This will be the 25th Annual Labor Day Stickball Tournament, and will run all this long weekend, September 2 – 4. It appears there will be 17 or 18 teams competing, according to the San Diego Stickball Facebook page.

Come on down to Little Italy and look for the action! These tournaments are very entertaining to watch! And the players mean business!

The event has a fundraiser here to pay for the necessary permits, and to help a special family. This year’s theme is called “Fallen Heroes Stickball Tournament.” A few family members of a hero lost in battle will Honor him by participating in this year’s event.

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Help solve an important San Ysidro mystery!

Photo courtesy Charlie Velazquez.

Your help is needed!

Do you have any old photographs taken years ago in San Ysidro? An effort is underway to reconstruct a World War II Memorial in San Ysidro, but more information is required.

147 men and women who lived in San Ysidro served in the military during World War II. Their names were listed on a memorial that stood in front of the old San Ysidro Library. But that memorial mysteriously disappeared, and now all that remains is a single photograph that shows only some of those names.

Here’s an article that provides a good explanation.

A group called the Friends of San Ysidro Luncheon Group has been attempting to ascertain all 147 names that were on the missing World War II Memorial, and they are still hoping someone out there has photos of it.

Do you know anyone out there who might have taken photographs in San Ysidro long ago? Your help would be greatly appreciated!

If you have any helpful information, please email Jack Gechter at jackgechter@cox.net.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

My Hero Academia at the Comic-Con Museum!

Check out the above very cool sculpture. It represents an epic battle from My Hero Academia, the “Historical Battle in Kamino.”

This sculpture is the centerpiece of a new exhibition that opened today, just in time for Comic-Con 2023!

I’m not all that familiar with this manga series, but the colorful displays definitely caught my attention this morning as I wandered about the lower level of the museum. Around the statue are action-packed graphics that depict various characters and scenes that fans love from My Hero Academia.

If you’re a fan of manga or anime, and you’re going to Comic-Con this year, jump on the shuttle from the San Diego Convention Center to Balboa Park. It stops a very short distance from the Comic-Con Museum!

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I’m covering Comic-Con again this year. To see all my current and past blog posts concerning Comic-Con, click here and scroll down!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

A visit to the San Diego Police Museum.

There’s a fascinating museum in San Diego that seemingly few know about. Occupying a modest, easily missed building near the intersection of El Cajon Boulevard and College Avenue, the San Diego Police Museum is packed wall-to-wall with displays that lovers of history shouldn’t miss!

I visited the museum for my very first time a while ago and was amazed at the quality and variety of exhibits.

Photographs, documents, equipment and artifacts trace the earliest days of the San Diego Police Department right up to the present.

There’s a mid-20th century police Communication Center. There’s a simulated jail cell, and a real police motorcycle. There are different uniforms from the past.

There are old newspapers with headlines about crime in San Diego. There are memories of past police chiefs. There is standard law enforcement gear dating back to the 1800s, and even a Tommy Gun, like those that were once used by gangsters.

There are displays concerning horse mounted officers, bike teams that were established in the early 1920s, and four-legged K-9 officers. There’s recognition of how diversity has played a more and more important role in the San Diego Police Department through the years.

There are old police badges and hundreds of patches. There are even artifacts from charity football COP’er Bowls and sports trophies won by officer athletes and bodybuilders.

And there are medals won by police heroes. They ran toward danger in the service of others.

And covering one wall: a memorial to fallen officers.

For more details about the museum, including its hours of operation, check out the SDPD Museum website.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Time capsule at Miramar National Cemetery.

Three years ago I visited Miramar National Cemetery during the weekend of Memorial Day. I took photographs and posted a blog concerning the cemetery’s Liberation statue, which is a powerful memorial to prisoners of war.

I didn’t realize at the time the statue contains a time capsule.

During a recent visit to the San Diego Veterans Museum, I observed a display concerning the time capsule.

San Diego Chapter 1 American Ex-Prisoners of War – WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, U.S.S. Pueblo. Greetings to the generation of 2045. Carefully enshrined in this time capsule are former prisoners of war’s actual experiences, stories of their lives before, during and after World War II, both European and Pacific Theaters, through all wars that followed to the capture of the U.S.S. Pueblo by the North Koreans in 1968.

The Time Capsule includes approximately 100 DVDs of member’s biographical testimonies video taped from 2002 to the statue’s placement September 2011. The capsule also includes Chapter support (PTSD) meetings, activities, documentaries, history of the chapter and statue, books, pictures and other memorabilia.

The sacrifices of many shall not be forgotten.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

San Diego Geranium Society honors military service.

The San Diego Geranium Society presented a patriotic plant show today in Balboa Park.

As visitors walked around tables that overflowed with beautiful geraniums, we were reminded that yesterday was Armed Forces Day, and that May is Military Appreciation Month. Of course, next Monday is Memorial Day.

Among the floral displays, photos and words could be found appreciating the sacrifices of service members.

One sign summed it up: The San Diego Geranium Society thanks all those in the military who have served and is serving our nation. We are forever grateful.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Smiles and heroes and Buck Bastard!

I met the above super cool people today. They had a table at Fangaea Con 2023 in San Diego. They are four creators of a budding animated web series: Buck Bastard.

These makers of Official Monkey Business were among the friendliest, most outgoing, most enthusiastic people I’ve met at any pop culture convention. We talked for a bit and I learned about a new character they are bringing to life: the would-be hero Buck Bastard!

We talked about the characteristics of Buck Bastard. From what I could gather, he wants to become a larger-than-life intergalactic hero in order to gain a desperately needed sense of self worth. And in so doing he actually becomes a hero.

You can get the gist of the character by watching the first produced episode of Buck Bastard here.

I love complex, character-driven stories and this particular concept. I’m positive Buck Bastard will develop into something special!

Check out Buck Bastard’s first short adventure “Hammer Time” by clicking here! And consider providing these passionate creators with a little support!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Balboa Park markers for police who died in combat.

Two markers in Balboa Park, not far from the entrance to the Veterans Museum and Memorial Center, remember and honor members of the San Diego Police Department who died in combat.

I knew nothing about these markers until I visited the San Diego Police Museum recently. A display on one wall included an old photograph and an explanation of the older marker and its plaque’s history.

Veterans War Museum Balboa Park

In 1953, a stone marker was dedicated to members of the San Diego Police Department who died in combat. Located at the base of a flag pole at the entrance to the San Diego Zoo, the marker eventually became overgrown and forgotten. The monument was relocated to the Balboa Park Veterans Museum. On May 14, 2014, it was rededicated. The master of ceremonies was former SDPD officer, now Brigadier General Paul K. Lebidine, USMC.

Other monuments in and around San Diego memorialize fallen law enforcement officers.

Those monuments that I’ve observed and photographed can be found here and here and here.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

A powerful Vietnam War ceremony on USS Midway.

This morning, in San Diego, a 50th Anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War ceremony was held on the flight deck of the USS Midway Museum.

A large audience assembled to recognize Veteran service members who returned from Vietnam fifty years ago–including those prisoners of war held by the North Vietnamese who were released and repatriated on March 29, 1973.

The ceremony was emotionally powerful. Many silent tears were wiped away. Memories were shared of pain and grief, and relief and gratitude.

Four speakers shared their experiences.

Retired U.S. Marine Corps Col. James M. Collins spoke of his tour in Vietnam, and how he was injured by an enemy hand grenade. He has gone on support those in the military through his leadership in various organizations.

Roy A Knight, III spoke of the loss of his father during the Vietnam War, and the miraculous discovery of his father’s remains. He has gone on to serve as a search and rescue pilot with the Civil Air Patrol.

Courtney Herrmann was a young girl when her family evacuated from Saigon. Her family was flown onto the USS Midway during Operation Frequent Wind. Her memories of a harrowing experience, and her gratitude that she now lives in freedom in America, brought about a rousing ovation.

Retired U.S. Navy Cmdr. Everett Alvarez, Jr. was a prisoner of war at the Hỏa Lò Prison, also known as the Hanoi Hilton, where he was beaten and tortured. He survived his brutal imprisonment through faith and the support of other prisoners. He finally came home with honor intact.

The audience welcomed every Vietnam veteran home.

After the speeches, four memorial wreaths took wing, remembering those who sacrificed for their country in a difficult war half a century ago.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Coronado exhibit: Vietnam POWs fifty years later.

Tomorrow, March 29th, 2023, marks an important anniversary. Fifty years ago United States troops completed their departure from Vietnam, and the last group of prisoners of war were freed.

A powerful exhibit at the Coronado Historical Association museum remembers the POWs who returned to freedom, and tells their moving stories. It’s titled Open Doors: Vietnam POWs Fifty Years of Freedom.

I wandered about the museum today and tried to imagine the horror. Displays recalled how prisoners of war in Vietnam suffered. It had been a struggle to merely survive.

I then gazed at portraits of freed POWs and read the accompanying profiles. I saw how differently each man adjusted to life after their experience.

Many successfully returned to a more “normal” life. Many, having risen out of hell, experienced a strengthened sense of purpose.

As the exhibition description states: Open Doors is a testament to the strength of the human spirit and the power of human will, it is also a celebration of that second chance at freedom.

This same exhibit originally debuted in Coronado 20 years ago. Today, after traveling around the nation, it has returned.

Visitors are reminded that we all have the capacity for extraordinary strength.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!