This is the audio version. If you would like to see the video version on YouTube, please click here:

https://youtu.be/2IqSvBVN_xc

If you would like to see the 10 minute version set to music, please visit our Veteran Stories page here:

https://www.lmmlfoundation.org/veteran-stories

Over the generations, Elk Grove Area citizens have fought and died in many U.S. conflicts around the world. So that they are not forgotten, we present their names.

To see the 10 minute version set to music please click on the below link;

This is the audio version. If you would like to see the video version on YouTube, please click here:

https://youtu.be/QbIicTrFXuQ

In 2024 we continue honoring area Veterans who have fallen in conflicts by presenting fourteen additional names of those from the Elk Grove area who have been killed in service around the world.

This entry is for the audio version. If you would like to see the video, please click here to go to our YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtIPzFui9eU

Since its inception, the Linda Mae Mahon Lema Foundation has researched and developed a local area Veteran's Story for presentation on Memorial Day each year. In recognition of the 2023 Memorial Day we present a collage of stories about Elk Grove area men who were lost in war during WWI, WWII, Korean War, and the Vietnam War Era.

Since its beginning, the Linda Mae Mahon Lema Foundation has researched and developed a local Veteran's Story to share with the community on Memorial Day each year. In 2023, however, we deviate from our usual practice of honoring an individual veteran, by honoring the fifteen veterans of Elk Grove High School who were lost in service during the Vietnam War Era.

Across the country, high schoolers of the 1960s were faced with the reality of military service driven by the war in Vietnam - Elk Grove was not immune. Hundreds served; others made the hard choice of resisting service; still others were deemed exempt from service. Of those who served, scores were wounded or suffered mental and emotional trauma by their service and fifteen from Elk Grove High School were killed in service during the Vietnam War Era.

Since its inception, the Linda Mae Mahon Foundation has researched and developed a local area Veteran story for presentation at the Memorial Day Ceremony produced each year by the Elk Grove Cosumnes Cemetery District. One of our 2016 Veteran Stories is of Dennis Belliner. Dennis entered service late in the War in March of 1865. He enlisted in Company B of the 16th Michigan Infantry Regiment and was with the Unit at Appomattox when Lee surrendered to Grant. Dennis was in the Unit in July 1865 as the Unit headed the parade known as the Grand Review of the Armies in Washington, D.C., which celebrated the end of the Civil War. Shortly after his service, he came to Elk Grove to work on his brother-in-law's vast acreage with his wife and two children.

Since its inception, the Linda Mae Mahon Foundation has researched and developed a local area Veteran story for presentation at the Memorial Day Ceremony produced each year by the Elk Grove Cosumnes Cemetery District. We began this tradition in 2016 by presenting the story of Peter Glann, a Civil War Veteran. Peter arrived in California from Ohio shortly before the Civil War to join his two brothers in running their vast agricultural operations in and around Elk Grove. When war broke out, Peter enlisted in the California Cavalry Regiment of the Union Army. His story is unique and compelling because he was wounded in an engagement with Rebels in Arizona, just over the California border. The engagement at Picacho Peak was the westernmost battle of the American Civil War.

Since its inception, the Linda Mae Mahon Lema Foundation has researched and developed a local area Veteran's Story for presentation on Memorial Day each year. In 2016 we presented the story of Peter Glann. In this audio cast we present further details of his service and an expanded background of the Civil War events in which he was involved.

In 2024 we will present the story of Sargent First Class Bryan E. Hall, who was a 1994 graduate of Elk Grove High School and who died in Iraq in 2009. The development of Bryan’s story is a result of a combination of researching newspaper, archival and military records, and numerous conversations with those who knew Bryan, including, most importantly, his parents, John and Betty Hall, his wife Rachel, his sister Kristi, his Elk Grove neighborhood friend Marcus Burkett, and his Army brother Brian Allesch. What is revealed is a deeply moving story of a man, who from early childhood, developed a keen sense of right and wrong, of faith and trust, of loyalty and truthfulness, and of an intense commitment to his obligations, particularly his family.

Through the years, many Elk Grove area Veterans have served with honor, distinction, and heroism in service to their country. In 2019 the Linda Mae Mahon Lema Foundation learned of a very remarkable story about Elk Grove's Kammerer Family during the Korean War. Arnold and DeRoy Kammerer were both drafted into the US Army and served in Korea at the same time. Arnold was an ammo bearer, and DeRoy was a combat medic. While not allowed to serve in the same unit as they wanted, each man was deployed to a front-line unit, and they were stationed just a few kilometers apart. Their story is a compelling journey from farm boy sons of Russian-German immigrant parents to battle-hardened soldiers who held fast to their core beliefs of patriotism, compassion, and humanity.

Since its inception, the Linda Mae Mahon Foundation has researched and developed a local area Veteran story for presentation at the Memorial Day Ceremony produced each year by the Elk Grove Cosumnes Cemetery District. We began this tradition in 2016 by presenting the stories of two area Civil War Veterans, followed by Veterans of World Wars I and II and the Korean War. In 2021 we have the solemn honor of sharing the story of Wayne D. Heintz, a graduate of Elk Grove High School, Class of 1964, who was killed in the Vietnam War in 1968. Our development of Wayne's story is the result of a combination of researching archival and military records and numerous conversations with those who knew Wayne, including elementary and high school friends and, most importantly, his sister Karen Heintz Castelli and his best friend Bob Lent, both also graduates of Elk Grove High School.

In the spring of 2018, the Linda Mae Mahon Lema Foundation discovered a rather compelling story that has its roots deeply steeped in all that is California. It is the story of WWII USMC Veteran Preston Hanford, Sr., who is now interred in the Pleasant Grove Cemetery in Elk Grove. His sons Preston, Jr. and Curtis shared his story with us.

Since its inception, the Linda Mae Mahon Lema Foundation has researched and developed a local area Veteran's Story for presentation on Memorial Day each year. For 2022, we honor Charles R. Chalmers, who graduated from Elk Grove High School in 1944 and was killed in 1945 during World War II.
Within a month of graduating high school, Charlie was drafted and inducted into the U.S. Army. For Charlie, in just a matter of a couple weeks, he was transitioned from a bucolic life in Elk Grove to the very real settings of war and its harsh realities. In June 1945, Charlie was killed in battle in the Philippines. In that one year after high school, Charlie traversed the country, and was sent halfway around the world, to be thrust into a conflict which took his life. He now rests but four miles along Elk Grove Blvd. to the still-operating Chalmers ranch where he grew up.

This is the audio version. If you would like to see the video version on YouTube, please click here:

https://youtu.be/kpE4qqkL15sere

In 2023 we shared the story of Cooper Tahara, who attended Elk Grove Elementary and graduated from Elk Grove High School. Cooper was a member of the segregated Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team which was the most decorated unit in the history of the US Army for size and duration. They received 7 presidential unit citations and 21 Medals of Honor. There were at least 5 Japanese American Elk Grove High School graduates who served in that regiment: Tosh Kiino, Hiro Ouchida. Tom Nakao, Tosh Hamataka and Cooper Tahara.

Over the generations, from the fields and homes of Elk Grove, men and women have fought with honor and distinction in many conflicts around the world in service to their country. In 2017 the LMML Foundation discovered the very poignant story of one such Elk Grove area veteran. It is the story of Charles E. Walther, a veteran of WWI. A renowned and talented musician with many options, he chose to fight for his country in the war that was raging in Europe. The chronicle of his journey from Elk Grove to Europe and back home again was extremely rare and is very touching.