By Jon Chown
Buzz Gray was out early on Veterans Day, preparing to walk from Natural Bridges State Beach to the Britannia Arms in Capitola.
Gray started the organization Journey for Change nine years ago and every year leads a march to raise awareness of the link between veterans and suicide.
The 81-year-old served in the U.S. Navy from 1963 to 1967.
“People ask me what was the worst part about Vietnam. I tell them it was coming home,” he said. “We weren’t very popular. We didn’t talk about it. People didn’t like us.”
Ed Banks steers an antique fire truck down Watsonville’s Main Street during the veterans parade.
Thankfully, Gray said, those attitudes have mostly changed. “I think people now realize that you don’t have to like the war, but you don’t take it out on the warrior.”
Events honoring veterans occurred throughout the county on Nov. 11. At the Santa Cruz County Veterans Memorial Building, a ceremony was held from 11 a.m. to noon featuring remarks by Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley. A moment of silence was held at the War Memorial outside the Vets Hall afterward. Gray’s march was the first event of the day, with veterans and their supporters lining up at 8:30 a.m. to begin the march.
“It’s a really beautiful walk, and it’s a good way to get some younger veterans out here. There’s no boundary between ages among veterans,” Gray said. “It’s just a lot easier for veterans to talk to other veterans.”
More people participating in the march from Natural Bridges State Beach to the Britannia Arms.
Jose Becerra of Watsonville served in the Navy from 2012 to 2016 on board the USS Ronald Reagan and USS George Washington. He said he was there to show support for his fellow veterans.
“Veterans are like a community, so I’m here to show support for my community,” he said.
It was Becerra’s fifth year participating in the march. The first year was a march from Watsonville to Santa Cruz, 22 miles over two days. The distance was an ode to a 2013 study by the VA that found that 22 U.S. veterans die by suicide every day.
Gray said the first march, nine years ago, went from Santa Cruz to Sacramento. It took two weeks. Gray’s journey through life landed him in Vietnam during the war. He was a teenager when he first arrived.
Former Santa Cruz County Supervisor and U.S. Army veteran Greg Caput used a walker to make his way down Main Street as students from Moreland Notre Dame Elementary School, and local residents lined the street.
“We were all teenagers. We were just kids, doing what they asked us to do,” he said. But when he got back home, people didn’t seem to see it that way. He originally arrived in town in 1969 to attend UC Santa Cruz on the G.I. Bill. President Nixon had just announced the invasion of Cambodia, and the whole campus shut down due to protests.
“I just kind of hid out. The whole time I was in college I didn’t tell anybody who I was,” he said. “I had a hard time becoming a civilian. I just didn’t know how to interact in the world.”
Veterans on motorcycles roll down Main Street on Nov. 11.
Gray’s experience was wholly different from that of Guy George, who served in the Navy during the Korean War. George was in Watsonville Tuesday morning for the march from St. Patrick’s Church to Veterans Hall. The route would take them down Main Street and right through the heart of town. Local residents, mostly students from Moreland Notre Dame Elementary, lined Main Street to see the parade, waving American flags.
The parade ended with a ceremony that honored veterans from all branches of service. It’s an annual tradition in Watsonville, though the turnout has slowly been dwindling.
Veterans march down Main Street in Watsonville and wave to the crowd.
Twenty years ago there were World War II veterans in the parade, and even members of the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a segregated unit of Japanese American soldiers in World War II who were recruited out of internment camps. The 442nd is the most decorated unit in U.S. combat history and many members settled in Watsonville after the war.
During the ceremony, Tom Graves, author of “Twice Heroes: America’s Nisei Veterans of WWII” spoke about regiment’s legacy and their sacrifice. “It was an honor meeting and telling the stories of these amazing Nisei veterans,” he said.
The eldest veteran in attendance appeared to be George, 94, who had served in the Navy as an aviation mechanic during the Korean War.
“My experience coming home was great!” he said, with far more energy than one might expect from a 94-year-old man. “It was so close to World War II and people had a lot of respect for Korean War vets. I could hitchhike and always get a ride. It was great to come back home. It was something special.”
TOP PHOTO: Veterans, along with family members and friends, march from Natural Bridges State Beach to the Britannia Arms in Capitola on Nov. 11.