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Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Veteran Ken Garrett wants the city of Pendleton to dedicate this bridge on Court Place in honor of veterans.
A vessel of change
Pendleton veteran seeks memorial for old bridge across from VFW
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
It is easy to overlook the
old bridge on Southeast Court
Place in Pendleton, across from
the Veterans of Foreign Wars
“Let ‘er Buck” Post 922.
Built in 1914, the structure
used to run over a canal that
carried water to the Byers Flour
Mill downtown. Since the mill
burned down in 1947 — taking
an entire city block with it —
the bridge has largely faded
into the background as new
development moved into the
area.
Ken Garrett, a former
captain of the Pendleton Fire
Department and Korean War
veteran, fi gures most people
walk or drive past the bridge
now without really noticing it.
But Garrett, 85, insists it could
be something more. He has
requested the city designate the
bridge as a memorial not only
for his fellow veterans, but also
for peace.
“I’d like to see peace in the
world,” Garrett said, fl ipping
through a collection of wartime
photos and news articles at his
Pendleton home. “People of the
world need to start caring for
each other.”
Garrett penned a letter to
the Pendleton City Council in
November to raise the issue of
a memorial at the bridge, which
he envisions as a “vessel of
change, from war and hate to
peace and friendship.”
“It needs to refl ect the past,
and the hopes and prayers of
the future,” Garrett wrote.
As part of the memorial, Garrett
said the city could also give the
bridge a fresh coat of stucco
and bronze job on the iron
piping. On one side, the bridge
could display the messages
“Remember Pearl Harbor” and
“Never Forget 9/11,” while on
the other side acknowledging
the devastation of the Tokyo
bombings during World War II.
Garrett’s earliest impres-
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The bridge was built in 1914 and originally spanned a canal that fed the Byers fl our mill.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Ken Garrett spends his days compiling scrapbooks fi lled
with local history and his own personal history from the
time he spent in Japan during the Korean War.
Ken Garrett as a 21-year-old
in the U.S. Navy and as a
fi ve-year-old, inset.
sions of war date back to his
childhood growing up in La
Grande. He was 10 years old
when the Japanese attacked
Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941,
which instilled a deep hatred of
the enemy.
“They weren’t even human,
as some of the people would
Travis. On the climb back
down, Travis suffered a hand
injury and several Japanese
climbers rushed to administer
fi rst aid.
That moment, along with
witnessing the beautiful Mount
Fuji sunrise, helped to change
Garrett’s perceptions of the
say,” he said.
Those views, however,
would evolve over time.
Garrett joined in the U.S. Navy
in 1951, and would spend 14
months in Japan during the
Korean War. He vividly recalls
one day in 1954 climbing
Mount Fuji with a friend, Lee
Japanese. He began researching
civilian casualties during
WWII, fi nding that one out of
every 78 Japanese people died
during the fi nal nine months of
the war.
“Millions of Japanese
people were killed in that war,
along with Americans,” Garrett
said. “Looking forward, I think
about peace. I’d just like that
bridge to refl ect that.”
In his letter to city council,
Garrett recalls the city
borrowed $35,000 from the
fi re department’s sinking fund
to build the Pendleton Veterans
Memorial Armory, now the
Pendleton Convention Center,
in 1956. The money was never
repaid, Garrett said, nor does
the building stand any longer
as a memorial.
When Garrett joined the
fi re department in 1964, he
said most of his offi cers were
WWI and WWII veterans.
Designating the bridge as a
new memorial could help make
up for the armory, Garrett said,
and honor those veterans who
went on to serve the fi re depart-
ment.
“In
remembering
and
honoring our veterans, it should
include not only military but
all these fi refi ghters and law
enforcement men and women,”
he wrote in his letter.
While Garrett continues to
push for the memorial bridge,
other members of the VFW have
ideas of their own for honoring
veterans. At the post’s Jan. 9
meeting, they agreed to pursue
a twofold plan that would place
a veterans statue at the fountain
near Highway 11 and Southeast
Emigrant Avenue, as well as
rename Southeast Court Place
to Veterans Way.
Robb Corbett, Pendleton
city manager, said the proposals
will be considered at the coun-
cil’s Feb. 7 meeting.
———
Contact George Plaven at
gplaven@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0825.
“Millions of Japanese people were killed in that war, along with Americans.
Looking forward, I think about peace. I’d just like that bridge to refl ect that.”
— Ken Garrett, former captain of the Pendleton Fire Department and Korean War veteran