LAPUSH — State Highway 110 will be officially the Desert Storm/Desert Shield Memorial Highway after a ribbon-cutting Saturday, April 16.
Gerald Rettela, Olympic Peninsula chapter president of the Korean War Veterans Association, helped establish state Highways 112 and 113 as the Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway in 2008 and a stretch of Highway 112 as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway more recently.
After those dedications, he set his sights on honoring the veterans of the first Persian Gulf War with the state highway that connects U.S. Highway 101 with LaPush.
“There hasn’t been much, if anything, done for this particular group of veterans who 20 years ago — exactly 20 years ago this month was when the war ended — went over there, and the state of Washington lost eight men,” Rettela said.
The ribbon-cutting will begin at 8 a.m. April 16 when a group meets at the Clallam County Courthouse in Port Angeles to drive to Forks together.
A ceremony at the Forks Elks Lodge, 941 Merchants Road, will begin at 10 a.m., and then a motorcade will escort the group to the location of the plaque at about 11:30 a.m.
The memorial plaque and flagpole will be at Pettit Oil, 392 LaPush Road — which is Highway 110.
The ceremony and ribbon-cutting are open to the public.
After the ceremony, the group will continue on to the Quillayute River Coast Guard Station in LaPush, where they will have lunch, Rettela said.
He was aided by Charles Gagnon, a Korean War Veterans Association member who served in both the Korean and Vietnam wars.
Gagnon said he felt it was important to honor all veterans, and this was one way to do it.
State Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim, sponsored the bill in 2009, which was officially approved in March 2010.
“We have a very active veterans community in Clallam County, and they asked me to sponsor the bill,” Van De Wege said. “It took a couple years, but I was honored that they asked me to sponsor it.”
He said having the memorial highways is important to let veterans know that they’re appreciated by the general public.
“It says that we appreciate their work and sacrifice and having people remember and that we don’t forget them,” Van De Wege said.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
