A Day to Remember

Area Veterans Will Be Honored for Their Sacrifices

Sunday, November 11, 2007,  11:00 AM

The El Dorado County Veterans Monument
360 Fair Lane, Placerville, CA, 95667

Veterans Day is a time to honor those who have served the cause of freedom.  The El Dorado County Veterans Monument symbolizes the freedoms, institutions, and way of life that our veterans have gallantly sacrificed to protect.

At gravesites, among flag-lined memorials and in processions along city streets, area residents will recognize the contributions and sacrifices of the nation's military veterans this weekend. ...

"It was our decision to go ahead and do it the way we thought it ought to be done," said Bill Schultz, El Dorado County recorder-clerk and master of ceremonies for Sunday's observance at the Veterans Memorial Monument in Placerville. ... Sunday's observance in Placerville, organized by the Friends of the El Dorado County Veterans Monument, will begin at 11 a.m. at 360 Fair Lane. The memorial monument, on a knoll above Ray Lawyer Drive and Highway 50, was dedicated on Nov. 11, 2006, and Schultz said more than 100 commemorative bricks have been added to the Walk of Honor during the past year.

Col. Louie Babbitt, an Air Force veteran with more than 35 years of service, will be the guest speaker. The U.S. Marine Corps Cadet Color Guard from Placerville will open the ceremony, and bugler Christian Peabody, a former cadet sergeant major, will play "Taps."

Schultz said family members of El Dorado County troops who have died in the Iraq war also will be recognized if they are present. The ceremony, he said, will be simple, providing opportunity for reflection, much as the memorial monument has during its first year.

"People go up there, sometimes on their lunch hour. You see them sitting there by themselves," Schultz said, noting that it also draws schoolchildren and families. Plans for this year's celebration and remembrance include the unveiling of a new Vietnam Memorial replica plaque to commemorate those who lost their lives subsequent to, but directly related to, their service in Vietnam. ... By Cathy Locke - clocke@sacbee.com



William E. Schultz

Bill Schultz at the Groundbreaking Ceremony.  William "Bill" Schultz is a retired U.S. Navy veteran with 20 years of active duty. Bill retired as a Chief Petty Officer in the Air Traffic Control specialty rating. He graduated as Honor man of San Diego Boot Camp Company 0488 in 1952, with his first training in the aviation mechanic field, where he became a flight engineer for P2V, PBY and C-121 type aircraft.

Bill changed his specialty to Air Traffic Controller and later qualified as both radar and carrier air traffic control operator. He served at many duty stations and also aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise (CVAN65) and participated in four tours off the coast of Vietnam from 1966 to 1970 supporting our troops.

On January 14, 1969 the Enterprise endured an explosion that tore her apart and took the lives of 28 shipmates, without whose courage and uncommon valor the ship might have been lost.

Bill retired from the Navy and moved to Placerville in 1972 and has worked in the banking industry and for El Dorado County Government. He currently serves as the elected Recorder-Clerk and Registrar of Voters. He is a member of American Legion Post 119, Fleet Reserve Assn. Hangtown Branch 275 and the Mother Lode Lions Club.

Bill graduated from Grass Valley High School. He and his wife, Mary Ann, live in El Dorado Hills.

The memorial is very important to him as it will enable all veterans and citizens to honor those who served our country in the past, the present and also in the future.