On 10/26/2012, the Monterey Herald (
visit link) ran the following story:
"Bataan Memorial Park in Salinas gets new life
By DENNIS TAYLOR , Herald Staff Writer
POSTED: 10/26/12, 12:01 AM PDT
Traffic in the middle of Salinas whizzes obliviously past a triangular patch of grass on West Market Street, directly across from the National Steinbeck Center.
The location, Bataan Memorial Park, probably has become best known as a hangout for the homeless people who populate the city's Chinatown district, just a couple of blocks to the east.
"We wanted to change that perception. Our goal was to create a renewed interest in a park that we all felt had basically been lost in the shuffle," said Navy veteran John Peacock, a graduate of Leadership Salinas Valley who helped spearhead the movement to rejuvenate the park.
Peacock and four other members of the group have spent the past 10 months sprucing up the park, which honors the 105 Salinas and Pajaro Valley military members who proudly paraded down Main Street before being deployed to the Philippines in 1941.
The local soldiers were among 70,000 American and Filipino troops who were captured by the Japanese and forced to walk more than 70 miles without food or water — an atrocity that became known as the Bataan Death March.
An estimated 18,000 to 20,000 troops died from heat, exhaustion, brutal beatings, bayonet attacks and other methods of execution. Only 47 of the men who paraded through Salinas made it home to tell the story.
"This was really a celebration of patriotism," said Marine Corps veteran Danielle Zapata. "Those service members who marched down Main Street went off to World War II for the love of country, to preserve freedom for their fellow citizens. That's why the project was important to me."
Zapata and Peacock joined forces in February with Karla Odell, Ronnie Capili and Mandy Brooks to clean up the park and raise money for a new sign. They raised nearly $12,000 in cash and in-kind donations.
Previously, all that marked the park was a rock just off the West Market Street sidewalk that bears a plaque honoring the men who died or survived the Bataan Death March.
"But if you're coming to Oldtown Salinas, you basically have to twist your head around and rubberneck to notice that rock," Zapata said. "We really wanted to bring more awareness to the reason this strip of grass is even here, which is to honor those military members who were at Bataan."
The group had a new sign made — 5 feet high, 9 feet wide — to put on the opposite end of the park from the original rock, greeting southbound traffic heading toward Oldtown. The marker was fabricated and donated by Brooks' husband, Ty Brooks, owner of Sunset Customs.
That sign and the original rock are now surrounded by newly installed gardens that were created by Smith & Enright, a Salinas landscaping company.
The five-person team and more than 30 volunteers also did a major cleanup of the park. A second cleanup effort is scheduled Saturday morning.
The renovated park will be rededicated in a special ceremony at 11:30 a.m. Nov. 10. Elected officials, an American Legion honor guard and Bataan survivors and their families are expected to be in attendance.
Dennis Taylor can be reached at 646-4344 or dtaylor@montereyherald.com."