The building of Castro Valley's Veterans Memorial is officially under way.
More than 100 people turned out for Saturday's groundbreaking event at the site of the memorial at on Lake Chabot Road.
The event drew dignitaries such as State Senate Majority Leader Ellen Corbett, State Assemblymember Bob Wieckowski, Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley, Hayward City Councilmember Bill Quirk and EBMUD Director Frank Mellon.
Event organizers could not have asked for better weather and Corbett used that fact to prove a point. "Mother Nature obviously loves veterans" Corbett pointed out during her remarks.
Mellon also shared his feelings of appreciation for our armed forces.
"I wasn't going to miss this event" Mellon said. "These are wonderful people and we're losing them left and right."
After having his named mistakenly mentioned twice as the donor for the "Rosie the Riveter" bench, Miley pledged to up his donation by an additional $2,000.
"I don't have any speech, I didn't come with a certificate" Miley said. "I just bring the money."
After dignitaries had a chance to speak, the official groundbreaking took place. The groundbreaking was followed by a benediction from Alameda County Sheriff's Chaplain Paul Sanftner.
A "three-volley salute" was performed using rifles and finally "Echo Taps" was performed by three Boy Scouts.
While the memorial is nearly funded in full, . Project designer and building manager Mike Emerson encouraged people to visit www.cvvm.info to learn how to go about making donations.
