VA Hospital in Big Spring Texas to rename center after Medal of Honor Recipient George O'Brien

Along with unveiling a bronze statue of Big Spring's Medal of Honor Winner George O'Brien, West Texas VA Medical Center plans to name the hospital after him.
"It could take a while. We're hoping in the next six months," it will go through, VA Community Relations Coordinator Iva Jo Hanslik said.

The bronze figure depicting a Marine dressed in combat fatigues, rucksack on his back and rifle in his right hand, was unveiled in November of 2008 by Hanslik and donor Jerry Worthy. It faces northeast on the hospital campus.

Midland business man and ex-Marine Arden Grover, who attended the ceremony, knew O'Brien for 50 years and played many rounds of golf with him. But aside from making Grover feel better about his prowess on the links, O'Brien was an "extraordinary Marine," earning the Medal of Honor on Oct. 27, 1953, a year after the Korean War battle that brought him the recognition for this rare award for valor.

It was personally bestowed on O'Brien by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Some 3,440 men from all branches of the service and all wars have earned the laurel and only a handful have been Marines.
Unlike other military awards, the Medal of Honor has to go through the chain of command all the way to the president.

On Oct. 27, 1952, a Marine force was holding a "vitally important" hill position near the 38th parallel. They were overrun by Chinese Communists, Grover said. The next day, O'Brien and 100 Marines were ordered to take the position back.

O'Brien raced across exposed ground to the hill, calling for his men to follow. The Chinese unleashed "ferocious" mortar fire that O'Brien later told Grover were like tears.

Shot through the arm, O'Brien was thrown to the ground. He regained his feet, waived his men onward and continued to spearhead the assault, pausing long enough to help a wounded Marine and kill three of the enemy with a carbine rifle.

He was evacuated to the USS Holt for treatment. When he returned to combat later in the year, he was awarded a Purple Heart. There is another bronze statue of O'Brien on the second floor at Midland International Airport.

O'Brien, who was a second lieutenant in the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, learned he would receive the Medal of Honor on a commercial radio broadcast from San Francisco when he was on his way back home aboard a Navy ship.

O'Brien returned to Big Spring about a year after Grover returned to Midland from the war.
"He was an extraordinary Marine and I am very happy I had the pleasure of knowing him," said Grover, who was in the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines.

O'Brien's widow, Sandra, said she liked the ceremony.
"I think it was lovely. I think George would like it," she said.

Their son Robb O'Brien, who traveled to Big Spring from Euless, said his dad didn't talk much about his experience in the war, but was a Marine through and through. Relatives came from throughout the country to see the ceremony.

"Speaking for myself and my family, this statue was (not only) for him, but it's for every man and woman who has fought for this country. He has never said a word about it. He truly felt he didn't do anything anyone else didn't do. He just got caught," Robb O'Brien said.

Growing up, O'Brien said his dad was tough but fair.
"He was exactly like a Marine. We would go to restaurants and held the door for my sister and my mother and their chairs," he recalled. "If we didn't do it right, we'd go out and come back in and do it again. He was quite a guy, but very fair, very honest and loving."

Bronze Statue honors heritage of Parkrose

More than a century ago, 10 years before Parkrose even existed, Joe Rossi's great-grandfather immigrated from Italy and bought land in what would become the Northeastern edge of Portland.

The family has farmed the land there ever since while the community has grown and changed.

Now Rossi is leading the charge to celebrate Parkrose's 100th anniversary. And at the heart of the celebration is the unveiling of a bronze statue that will honor the immigrants like his great-grandfather who founded the area -- and the immigrants reshaping the community today and in the future.

The Parkrose Community Foundation will hold its centennial bash on Saturday, Oct. 1, with a 10 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony for the custom bronze statue, an 11:30 a.m. parade and a 12:30 p.m. reception. To whip up enthusiasm and raise money for the Parkrose Outdoor School Program, a 6 p.m. free movie night will take place this Saturday, Sept. 10, at Rossi Farms, 3839 N.E. 122nd Ave.

While the foundation gets ready for the party, Rossi is keeping an eye on the bronze sculpture's progress. The life-size bronze figure, once it leaves the foundry in Boring, will sit on the traffic island at Northeast 98th Avenne and Sandy Boulevard, and serve as a gateway to the community.

Parkrose bronze sculptor James Gion lives about nine blocks from where his bronze artwork will stand. The city of Portland commissioned Gion to produce the bronze columns at the Japanese American Historical Plaza at Gov. Tom MccCall Waterfront Park. He's also done bronze sculptures on display at the Oregon Zoo.

Organizers who have raised $240,000 toward the $300,000 project didn't want a larger-than-life statue in Parkrose. They wanted a man about six feet tall dressed in immigrant garb, standing beside his travel bag, hands on hips, looking North/Northwest toward where the Portland International Airport is now.

The direction is significant because that's where the farm fields and dairies that employed many early Italian, Dutch and German immigrants used to lie.

"We wanted a bronze statue that could look like anybody," Rossi said. "We wanted the image to project humility. It's meant to be a humble being pausing between one world and the other."
Amelia Salvador, who grew up in Parkrose as the daughter of immigrants from the Philippines, agreed.

"This life size statue is my dad," said Salvador, marketing director for the project. "But it's not just my dad. It's meant to represent all the immigrants from the past, and the present, and the future."

The effort for a large bronze statue comes at a time when the Parkrose community is more diverse than ever. The effort also comes as the Parkrose Business Association wants to beautify the area and better establish its identity, Salvador said.

Parkrose has changed a lot since a group of Parkrose businessmen incorporated in 1911.
In the 1920s, some of the farmland that once supplied early Portland's population with food was developed into motels. The motels then became resting places for Portland travelers riding in the automobiles that bumped horses and wagons off Northeast Sandy Boulevard, Parkrose's main road.

The community changed more as more farmland became housing developments.
In the 1960s, the new Banfield interstate led motorists and shoppers to bypass Sandy Boulevard. The Gateway Shopping Center, with its Fred Meyer, pulled customers away from Parkrose mom-and-pop businesses, Rossi said.

Then Portland annexed the area in the 1980s and the community's identity vanished a little more.
But this most meaningful of bronze statues and centennial celebration are changing that, organizers say.

Newcomers and longtime residents alike will be reminded that the area has its own history and heritage.