A Dream Becomes Reality

Everything starts as a dream.  We were attending a funeral of a diver shipmate at Miramar National Cemetery about three years ago.  The deceased had been a member of Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit ONE Reserve Detachment 419 San Diego.  Although the unit was disbanded in 2007, many...

The First Step was to learn the Rules.  The Director of the cemetery handed over a copy of the VA instruction for donating a monument.  There were size and cost restrictions, no names or weapons could be included, permissions to obtain, accounting of funds, the monument would have to be...

Now a Project — the grand mountain to climb, the great tsunami to surf – the next step was to form a Non-Profit Organization – a 501.c.3.  Not an easy task.  It took nine months to obtain, but Det 419 now was in position to make the request to donate a monument to Miramar National...

A grand gathering of Det 419 members met in San Diego at a member’s home.  After some informative and motivating presentations, a flood of ideas were offered.  By email, members submitted design ideas.  We agreed that we would look for the best possible design and then make it...

Next came pricing and further liaison. The company that would make the monument accepted the plan and drew up concept drawings.   A Jeweler agreed to make the larger than life Diving Pins.  A foundation company accepted the job of making the base upon which the monument would be...

Then the moment came to submit the Request to Donate a Monument to the VA/Director of Miramar National Cemetery.  The documents showed what the monument would look like, showed we were a non-profit, that we had designed a monument that was respectful, acceptable, and per the VA...

Once the Design Team came up with an agreed upon design (months of effort, comparison, conversation, exchange, barter, and even reason), we drew up the Request to Donate a Monument to the VA/National Cemetery.  Weeks passed, suspense thickened, and finally a response came back that our...

Progress is being made for acceptance of the latest modified design.  The Team submitted its third Request to Donate a Monument on 16 March, 2023, and after a month’s review in Washington DC, we received word from the Director of Miramar National Cemetery that it had cleared that...

Life is full of excitement and challenges.  Having passed through the Director of the Miramar National Cemetery with full support (review #4), our Request to Donate a Monument went up to the VA District Office in Oakland for its final review and acceptance (review #5).   Except,...

The conversation with the Director of Cemeteries (Washington DC) went well.  Three offices of the VA had reviewed our design and the DC said that our monument will be the finest of all the monuments (at its level – not in the level of 12-foot tall statues) at all the National...

The team convened for a meeting to discussed the VA continued requirements and restraints. There was much discussion on the final laser engraved back side picture and on the side of the monument. The team is attempting to depict military diving and the VA wants the pictures to be of a particular...

Early in September 2024 we submitted our #8 Request to Donate a Monument to the VA and we are eagerly awaiting a positive response.  Once the approval comes, the monument will be completed and shipped in about three months.  In early 2025, on a pleasant day in San Diego at Miramar...

That title sounds like part of a Disney song, but that is what has happened!  Our design was approved!  In fact, it was approved last March, however it had a big tag on it.  The VA had approved us as a “Non-Standard Monument” which put us in the class of a 50-foot tall statue of...

Change of location; The Ceremony and party are at the same location. Admiral Baker Park -2400 Admiral Baker Road, San Diego CA 92124 “I’m not crazy about reality, but it’s still the only place to get a decent meal.” ~ Groucho Marx The Dedication Ceremony for the US Navy Diver Monument is...