Amid applause and tears, more than 100 community members, including veterans and Gold Star families, marked a groundbreaking Jan. 15 at Rancho Cucamonga’s Central Park for San Bernardino County’s first Gold Star Families Memorial.
National CORE is proud to join other Rancho Cucamonga-based companies and organizations, including Diversified Pacific and Architerra Design Group, in supporting the memorial.
The two-sided black granite monument, designed by the Woody Williams Foundation, will feature a silhouette of a saluting service member to honor those who have died in active military service. It will stand at the north end of the park, with views of the surrounding mountains. More than 150 similar memorials have been installed nationwide.
The project is led by the Legends Live Forever Foundation, founded by Rancho Cucamonga resident Cheryl Rex after her son, Lance Cpl. Dylan Merola, a Los Osos High School graduate, was killed during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. He was 20.
City council members, city staff and representatives from project partners also attended the ceremony.
“This new monument will provide a special place for our community to honor, reflect and pay tribute to the bravery of selflessness of the service members we have lost,” Mayor Pro Tem Lynn Kennedy said. “It also reflects the support, the care and the appreciation of our community for all Gold Star families.”
Rex said the memorial reflects the support she received from other Gold Star families following her son’s death.
“These families knew our pain, they knew mine and my family’s anger, shock and numbness. They knew because they had experienced their own trauma,” Rex said. “I wanted to create something to show other Gold Star families that I stand with them, always, as they are traveling a path just like myself, one I wish no one ever has to experience, especially alone.”
The memorial is expected to be completed this spring.
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