Honor for Iraq war dead

CITY HALL ? The names of the area's Iraq war dead will soon join those of their fallen comrades in other major conflicts on the city's Veterans Memorial Monument at City Hall.

The City Council will likely vote Tuesday to approve the installation of a fifth granite panel to an existing four-panel monument that lists the area's fallen soldiers from World War I and World War II as well as the Korean and Vietnam conflicts.

The quarter-inch polished black granite blocks include the names of Glendale, Montrose and Crescenta Valley residents and alumni who died in the service of their country since Glendale's incorporation in 1906.

The $15,000 for the new panel will be covered by an endowment maintained by the Glendale Community Foundation. The memorial was constructed 13 years ago. The Iraq war panel, which will be graced by an American flag and the slogan "Protecting Our Freedom," should be installed by Memorial Day of this year, committee member Donald Biggs said.

"We have already contacted all the vendors and hope to have it done by the first week of May," said Biggs, who is retired from the Glendale Fire Department and who served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam. "We have had it planned for at least three years, but we didn't rush because the war was ongoing. Since we haven't had any recent Glendale fatalities, we decided to go ahead with it now.

"If we have to we can add to it later on, though we hopefully will never have to."

So far, the panel is slated to include the names of four fallen soldiers who either lived in Glendale, Montrose or Crescenta Valley, or attended schools in the area.

The local war dead, among the 2,319 U.S. servicemen and women killed in Iraq to date according to the Associated Press, are: