Fairgrounds’ new Heroes Hall a ‘thank you’ to veterans
Standing in front of a sun-baked crowd of hundreds at the OC Fair & Event Center on Friday, Vietnam veteran Vincent Okamoto took a thoughtful pause.
“In our society, some are lionized for their great wealth or their political power or their social position,” he said. “Some are renowned for their athletic abilities. Others are afforded celebrity status as film star or rock icons. But of all the titles in the world, I think the proudest is that of ‘veteran,’ because it refers to an individual who was willing to give up everything for America.”
Okamoto, the most decorated Japanese American to survive the Vietnam War, was one in a series of speakers who turned out on Veterans Day to dedicate the Heroes Hall veterans museum at the Orange County fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.
The day’s unseasonably warm weather didn’t stop a hefty crowd of veterans, dignitaries and other community members from attending the ceremony.
Heroes Hall, housed in a former Army barracks, will offer year-round educational programs, performances and rotating exhibitions starting early next year.
Outside the building is a courtyard that includes memorial plaques and a 50-foot-wide decorative tile centerpiece modeled after the Congressional Medal of Honor.
“I believe this museum, in effect, is a thank-you card to those veterans,” said Okamoto, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge. “It’s made of stone and steel, but it stands as tribute to the courage, commitment and sacrifice for love of country. It will serve as a place of healing and quiet remembrance for families and friends of those who perished.”
The ribbon-cutting event represented a major milestone after more than three years of work to preserve and reuse a two-story World War II-era building, a remnant of the Santa Ana Army Air Base, as a museum.
Officials had once planned to demolish the structure, formerly known as the Memorial Gardens Building, to make room for Plaza Pacifica near the Pacific Amphitheatre.
Veterans and preservationists successfully lobbied the Orange County Fair Board to save the building in 2013.
Officials broke ground on the Heroes Hall project in March this year. The next month, workers moved the 74-year-old building to its current foundation near Centennial Farm.
Fair Board Chairman Nick Berardino said Friday that the museum will teach visitors one lesson above all: “Freedom isn’t free.”
The board allocated $4 million to build the museum, he said, and an additional $400,000 has been raised for the project. That includes $50,000 from the city of Costa Mesa.
During Friday’s ceremony, Orange County Supervisor Michelle Steel added to the total with a $2,500 personal check.
The goal is to open Heroes Hall in February with two exhibits: “The Things They Carried,” based on a book by Tim O’Brien about the Vietnam War, and “The SAAAB Story,” which will tell the tale of the Santa Ana Army Air Base.
The base once covered a large portion of modern-day Costa Mesa, including the fairgrounds property. More than 150,000 cadets received training at the base between 1942 and 1946.
Several of those cadets attended Friday’s ceremony and received a hearty round of applause from the audience.
“It’s going to be up to us to keep it going,” Berardino said of the museum. “That’s our responsibility. And when you look around at the great heroes that surround us, they did their part. We have to do our part.”
Twitter: @LukeMMoney
