14 Valley service members’ names added to Freedom Memorial wall in the South Valley

HANFORD

Fourteen fallen Valley heroes were honored by the Kings County and its Veteran Service Office for their service to the country. Their names have been engraved on the county’s Freedom Memorial monument wall.

The ceremony at the government center earlier this month was part of the 20th year anniversary of the memorial, which opened to the public in 2006 with 763 names on the granite wall.

“This hasn’t been done in a while. Their names needed to be honored,” said Codi Pennington, Veterans service officer and public guardian.

The last ceremony was in 2012 and brought the total number of names to 794. Flags representing each branch of the military are at the memorial. So is a flag honoring prisoners of war and those missing in action.

The 14 people honored this month are:

• Ilyass Bourbel;
• Milton W. Brown
• Derrick Brown
• Martha C. Cook
• Santiago Delos-Reyes
• Christopher R. Dismus
• Jack W. Gallant
• Markus I. Guinn
• Cash Gurung
• Nevin C. Place
• Nathan T. Poloski
• Oscar J. Temores
• Charles Z. Walker
• Juan M. Mendez-Covarrubias.

The memorial wall honors individuals who were born or lived in the county and served in armed forces, as well as those who were stationed at Lemoore Naval Air Station at the time of their death.

“Kings County has never forgotten; we’ll never forget,” Supervisor Richard Valle said of the service members whose names are on the memorial.

The names on the wall now total 808. A list of all the names on the Freedom Memorial is on the County’s website.