Select SoCal post offices are to be renamed for fallen vets
Military heroes are getting post offices named after them as President Joe Biden signs renaming bills to honor the fallen vets.
Compton, Los Angeles and Placentia Post Office Branches are to receive the renaming honors.
In Compton, Biden signed a bill that will rename the post office at 101 S. Willowbrook Ave. as the PFC James Anderson Jr. Post Office Building.
Anderson, who attended Carver Elementary School in Willowbrook and Centennial High School in Compton, was serving with the Marines in Vietnam. While on patrol Feb. 28, 1967, his platoon was ambushed and came under enemy fire with a grenade landing amid the troops. Anderson,21, died using his body to shield his fellow troops from the grenade blast.
He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 1968, becoming the first Black Marine to earn that recognition
Another bill was signed to rename the branch at 2016 E. First St. in Los Angeles in honor of Marine Pvt. Jacob Cruz.
Cruz enlisted in the Marines at age 17 so he could fight in World War II, with the permission of his mother.
In November 1943, during the Battle of Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands, Cruz was killed while running ammunition boxes to gunners on the front line, amid enemy fire.
His remains were deemed unrecoverable for 77 years, but they were finally identified and returned home to Los Angeles last year for a burial with full military honors.
Renaming the post office branch in his honor will "honor the contributions of this brave Marine and all Latino service members who have given their lives in the service of our country," said Rep. Jimmy Gomez,
Placentia's post office branch will be renamed the PFC Jang Ho Kim Post Office Building.
"U.S. Army PFC Jang Ho Kim gave everything to preserve our nation's values we hold dear," Rep. Young Kim said in a statement. Kim introduced the bill to rename the post office branch.
A native of Seoul, South Korea, Jang Ho Kim immigrated to the United States with his family in 1990, eventually moving to Orange County. He graduated from Valencia High School in Placentia and attended Fullerton College.
He enlisted in the Army in 2005 and was deployed to Baghdad, where he and a fellow soldier were killed by a roadside bomb. He is buried at the Riverside National Cemetery.
