VFW 2043: Rededication of Vietnam
Veterans plaque set for Sept. 18
September 11, 2015
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
The spelling of his name is corrected and his status as a MIA added to the plaque created by the Mercer-Prieto VFW Post 2043 to honor those lost in war — and on Friday, September 18 there is no doubt Jimmy Ray Cavender will be there in spirit at the rededication ceremony he prompted.
According to VFW Commander Jerry Olivas, “We’ll have a small-scale dedication ceremony that Friday at 10 a.m.” at Veterans Park in front of the memorial in the 900 block of East Ventura Street across from City Hall.
Although the public is of course invited there will be no seating available “or a very formal ceremony…”
Members of Cavender’s family, the Santa Paula Fire Fighters Association that donated the cost of the new plaque and of course members of the VFW will be on hand for the rededication.
“Actually,” noted Olivas, “our ceremony falls on the actual POW/MIA Recognition Day, which makes it more appropriate.”
Jimmy Ray, a Santa Paula native, popular SPHS athlete and all around good guy known for sticking up for the underdog, went Missing in Action November 4, 1969.
At only 20 years old Jimmy Ray was already an Army Bell Iroquois helicopter pilot, but it was a life cut short: he and his crew went down during a combat support mission near Duc My Pass, South Vietnam. The helicopter’s last radio transmission noted they were having trouble; the bodies of the crewmembers were never found.
Jimmy Ray is among the 83 Santa Paulans honored on the monument at Veterans Memorial Park that notes the name of every Santa Paulan lost in World War I, World War II, Korean and Vietnam.
Over the summer Olivas discovered two things: Jimmy Ray’s name was spelled wrong and there was no acknowledgement of his MIA status on the plaque.
When he spoke of wanting to replace the plaque through a fundraiser at the annual Memorial Day Observance at Santa Paula Cemetery, SPFFA President Captain Austin Macias and others told Olivas the fire association would fund it, an offer that Olivas said, “Was a wonderful, generous gesture…”
Other corrections were also made on the new plaque that Olivas said is installed but will undergo more finishing work once it is set.
Overall, he noted, “Our VFW Post wanted to honor our Santa Paula Vietnam Veterans that served and died in Vietnam in accordance with the official Department of Defense Vietnam War Causality Listing,” after finding that two of those listed actually passed stateside. “Also to correct the misspelled name of the only Santa Paula Vietnam Veteran that is still in a Missing in Action status, Jimmy Ray Cavender…we wanted to acknowledge that he is MIA.”
