Tag: military

Aviation enthusiasts recreate 100-year-old aircraft.

A disassembled 1927 Boeing FB-5 ended up as a box of parts. Almost one hundred years later, volunteer aviation enthusiasts in San Diego opened the box, then got to work in machine shops to recreate the very rare aircraft.

The reassembled FB-5 made its debut in 2022!

I saw this historical fighter in all its restored glory during my recent visit to Aerofest at the San Diego Air & Space Museum’s Gillespie Field Annex in El Cajon.

I was told that eventually this FB-5 will be exhibited at the world-famous museum in Balboa Park. A sign explained it’s one of about a dozen airplanes “built from scratch” in the museum’s extensive collection.

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Fleet Week’s downtown Veterans Art Exhibit.

You have until 4 pm today (Sunday) to view Fleet Week San Diego’s special Active Duty Military & Veterans Art Exhibit. It’s open free to the public at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego’s old downtown location, at 1100 Kettner Boulevard.

If you’re watching the Veterans Day Parade along the Embarcadero today, you might enjoy stopping by afterward. It’s within easy walking distance.

The artwork covers several walls in the museum’s Melinda Farris Wortz Gallery. Diverse artists with different military experiences have pieces on display. Many of the works depict life in the military or on the battlefield–occasionally with a bit of humor. Other paintings include impressionistic landscapes and dreamlike visions. There’s even some fine nature photography!

I captured a few of the canvases…

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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!

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A patriotic Massing of the Colors in San Diego.

The 67th Annual Massing of the Colors and Service of Remembrance was held today in San Diego’s Balboa Park.

The patriotic ceremony featured a procession of color guards through the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. In addition to military color guards, participants represented dozens of schools, organizations and agencies from throughout San Diego County.

The event was presented by the San Diego Chapter of Military Order of the World Wars, whose mission includes instilling love of country by honoring our nation’s flag and the liberty it promises. For a writer like myself, freedom is precious.

As I sat in the front row waiting for the event to begin, a gust of wind on the stage blew over our nation’s flag. Several people immediately rushed forward to raise Old Glory again.

The Massing of the Colors this year was co-sponsored by the Spreckels Organ Society. Patriotic music, including an Armed Forces Medley, was provided by San Diego Civic Organist extraordinaire Raúl Prieto Ramírez!

A special mention in the ceremony and program acknowledged Vietnam Veterans and their sacrifices. Fifty years ago, that terrible war ended.

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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 X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Dave grows Veterans Rock Garden in Encinitas!

Dave Dean has been adding painted stones to the new rock garden in front of American Legion San Dieguito Post 416 in Encinitas. I spoke to him today when I happened to walk down the sidewalk. He was working in what he calls the Veterans Rock Garden.

Many more stones will be painted with patriotic designs at future events. Dave hopes that the garden will one day contain thousands of colorful additions!

Yes, this is the same Dave responsible for Dave’s Rock Garden on B Street, a few blocks east of Moonlight Beach!

UPDATE!

In early 2025 I walked past the garden again and noticed it has grown!

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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 X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Japanese Navy ships arrive in San Diego.

Two ships of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force docked today at San Diego’s Cruise Ship Terminal. I noticed them this afternoon during a walk along the Embarcadero.

Every couple years, it seems, I notice Japanese naval ships in San Diego harbor, paying a friendly visit. The vessels this year are training ship JS Kashima and the guided-missile destroyer JS Hatakaze.

According to this article, the ships are visiting many ports in the Americas. For those who are curious, the Kashima will be open to the public on Saturday, Sept. 23, from 10 a.m. to noon and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. It’s the ship on the right (near the pier) in my photographs.

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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 X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Nautical rope, sea bags, and a sailor’s life.

For much of the 20th century, Naval Training Center San Diego was the place where Navy recruits learned what their new life at sea would be like.

Today, NTC Liberty Station occupies those old Navy buildings and barracks. The popular San Diego destination contains museums, artist studios, shops, offices, restaurants . . . and thought-provoking installations of public art.

A Dime to Call Home is sculptural art that I photographed during my last visit. The unusual art, made of cement, soft clothing and nautical rope, is located near some archways along Liberty Station’s North Promenade. It was created by artist Michele Montjoy of Oceanside, California, and installed in 2019.

A nearby sign explains:

Using sculptural forms reminiscent of sea bags and nautical rope, A Dime to Call Home is a conversation about the shifts of identity, location and routine that recruits encounter when they enter the military, as well as the connection they have to their family, home and previous life.

I took several photographs.

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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 X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Veterans receive help at North County Stand Down.

Do you know any military veterans who could use some help? Perhaps they are struggling financially. Perhaps they need a little boost. Perhaps they are homeless.

There’s a four day event next month in Vista, in San Diego’s North County, that wants to help. The North County Veterans Stand Down welcomes all veterans and their families to free meals, accommodations, hot showers and haircuts. Veterans are given new or gently used clothing and shoes, prescription glasses, dental services, medical services, legal services, and simple rest, support and friendship.

Do you know someone who might benefit? Even you, perhaps?

I learned about the North County Veterans Stand Down during my visit to the Escondido Grape Day Festival last Saturday. Good people who know how life can be difficult want to help. I thought I’d pass this information along.

To go to the North County Veterans Stand Down website to learn more and perhaps register, click 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 X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Massing of the Colors to honor Vietnam Veterans.

A patriotic Massing of the Colors event is returning to San Diego this October. The grand procession of flags will feature from 40 to 50 Color Guards from around our region, and will honor Vietnam Veterans, as 2023 marks the 50th Anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War.

The 67th Annual Massing of the Colors and Service of Remembrance, presented by the San Diego Chapter of The Military Order of the World Wars, is free and open to the public. The many Color Guards will assemble in Balboa Park’s Spreckels Organ Pavilion on October 14th, and the ceremony will commence at 10:30 am.

This year is also the 125th Anniversary of the famous march Stars and Stripes Forever. John Philip Sousa marches will be played by San Diego Civic Organist Raul Prieto Ramírez during the procession as it enters and exits the pavilion. The event is co-sponsored by the Spreckels Organ Society.

If you know of a Color Guard in San Diego that would like to participate, use the contact email shown in the graphic below.

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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 X (formerly known as Twitter)!

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!

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!