The Los Banos District Cemetery is over a century old and has now received a set of new monuments dedicated to honoring the soldiers at rest.
Robert Jurado, a Los Banos veteran, took on the monumental project that honors the fallen troops at Los Banos District Cemetery (and across the country): three granite slabs etched with emblems of each branch of the military alongside a grieving soldier.
The main piece stands at 7.5 feet tall, spans 42 inches, and is flanked on either side by the supporting slabs, which stand at 5.5 feet tall, allowing the center monument to shine.
Jurado joined the military at a very young age and was drafted as a teen in 1968. Though he was consigned at the height of the Vietnam War, Jurado was lucky enough to avoid being sent to the active warzone of Southeast Asia and instead served as a trainee at a munitions base in Germany.
While working at the headquarters service battery, Jurado wore a few different hats and helped with munitions, mess duties and generally tried to be “as useful as I could before my time in the service was up.”
Having taken his military experience to heart, Jurado carried the impact that the armed forces and their many veterans had on him both as a teen and an adult, with the monument project being the physical culmination of his eternal respect for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
Jurado also drew inspiration from the sheer number of veterans who eventually found a resting place in the Los Banos Cemetery.
“There have been lots of soldiers buried here,” Jurado explains, reflecting on what moved him to start the three-monument project, “and, me being a veteran and the cemetery being over 100 years old, it seemed time to do something to honor them.”
Earlier this year, Jurado approached the board and managers of the Los Banos Cemetery with his proposal to build the structure and was met with enthusiasm and support. After getting the initial go-ahead, Jurado worked with the folks at Atwater Headstone to finalize the monument’s designs.
The design featured prominently in the centerpiece was painted by local artist Justin Daniel, while the engravings were done by Legan Stonework, an Atwater-based company.
Thanks to both his personal connections and his noble, community-centered cause, Jurado had an overwhelming amount of support from friends, board members and construction teams of all kinds. Though McElvany Incorporated was the one enlisted to help with moving the monuments from Atwater to Los Banos, Jurado is happy to report that he had friends with fleets of trucks reaching out to help from states away.
“I had some people in Merced, offers from Texas, even a trucking company in Nevada offered to help haul off whatever we didn’t want in the cemetery.” Jurado says he is grateful for the amount of support he encountered, “People that I went to in person didn’t even hesitate to bring their checkbooks out.”
When all was said and done, the bill for the three granite monuments was far more than Jurado could cover alone, though – thanks to so many people coming forward to either donate their money or their time – the project had amassed more than enough to cover all the costs — so much so that he had to start turning down offerings after only the first few days of asking around for donations.
Thanks to Jurado’s efforts, the Los Banos District Cemetery boasts a proud new set of monuments, and may even consider adding more to its landscape in the future. Though Jurado was the one who spearheaded the project, the clubs, donors and stoneworkers were the ones who rose to the occasion to help, and their support is what turned a dream into a physical reminder that will stand proudly for years to come.
Charles Young and crane operator Jeff Correia from Young’s Air Conditioning, along with employees of the Los Banos District Cemetery, helped unload the granite monuments from a flatbed trailer and set the monuments in place.
Thanks to funds donated by the Amabile Family, RPAC Almond Processing, the Los Banos Basque Club and the Wool Growers, the left-most slab was erected and bears the emblems of the Army, Navy and Air Force.
Likewise, the right-hand slab bears the emblems of the Marine Corps, National Guard, Coast Guard and Space Force, which was made possible thanks to the Los Banos Oddfellows and the Mt. Brow Lodge.
The main, middle section of the monument was kindly supported by Marion G., David and Carolyne of the Santos Family and stands in dedication to all the brave people who gave the ultimate sacrifice on the front line.
