Los Angeles Times - 26.08.2019

LATIMES.COM MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 2019B

CITY & STATE

SAN DIEGO — In March

1944, Dominic “Monte” Mon-

temarano dropped out of

high school in Buffalo, N.Y.,

to serve in the Army during

World War II.

Seventy-five years later,

the 93-year-old Rancho

Peñasquitos resident has fi-

nally received his diploma.

Montemarano received

the certificate in June from

Greg Magno, principal of Mt.

Carmel High School in

Peñasquitos, where Mon-

temarano has volunteered

for the last 12 years as a

speaker in history classes.

After learning that Mon-

temarano had never fin-

ished high school, Magno

spent more than a year

working with school officials

in New York to arrange for an

official diploma. The honor

was presented to him at a

surprise school staff meet-

ing at Mt. Carmel on June 14.

“When I walked in the

room and saw everyone

standing there clapping, I

think my hair stood up on

end,” Montemarano joked

lastweek. “They wanted a

speech and I forget what I

said, but it was something

like, ‘Now that I have this di-

ploma I guess I gotta get a

job.’ ”

Montemarano said that

when he returned from Eu-

rope in 1946, he was strug-

gling with anxiety caused by

his war experiences. His

wife, Mary, encouraged him

to finish his studies so he

could go to college on the GI

Bill, but every time the

then-21-year-old veteran sat

down with his books to

study, the same thing would

happen.

“I’d get too nervous,” he

said. “My mind would go

back and I would see all

those young boys, ages 18

and 19, lined up in rows in the

morgue. I couldn’t get that

out of my head. So I just gave

up. I had a job already and,

as you can see, things

worked out fine.”

In 1943, Montemarano

was in his junior year at Bur-

gard Vocational High School

in Buffalo when he turned 18

and registered for the draft.

Because Montemarano

was born deaf in his right

ear, the Army medics classi-

fied him as unfit for duty and

sent him back to school. But

four months later, the Army

changed its mind.

After training at the now-

decommissioned Camp Ellis

in Illinois, Montemarano

was assigned to the 7th

Army, 5th Infantry Division,

3051st Quartermaster Sal-

vage and Collection Com-

pany.

In September 1944, he

shipped out to southern

France aboard the Queen

Elizabeth. His duties in-

volved salvaging disabled

vehicles and other items

from battlefields and bring-

ing them back to temporary

camps with makeshift

morgues. Later that year, he

and his company fought in

the Battle of the Bulge.

“Kids sometime ask me if

I ever shot anyone. I always

tell them, ‘They were shoot-

ing at us so we were shooting

at them,’ ” Montemarano

said. “I’m no hero. The only

heroes from that war are

under the white crosses in

the cemeteries and under

the water where their bones

still lie.”

Montemarano finished

out the war and a postwar

year in Austria before his

discharge in April 1946.

When he got home, he

married Mary Badami, relo-

cated to Geneseo, N.Y., and

found work at a regional gas

and electric company. He

would spend the next 37

years with the company be-

fore he retired in 1984.

The Montemaranos fol-

lowed their adult children to

San Diego and bought a

house in Rancho

Peñasquitos in 1987.

Montemarano said that

he couldn’t bring himself to

talk about the war for many

years. But when the 50th an-

niversary of D-day in June

1994, the floodgates opened.

“Something just hap-

pened in me and I felt like

telling my story. I started

talking and I haven’t shut up

since,” he said.

A dozen years ago, Mt.

Carmel history teacher

Chris Vitous asked Mon-

temarano if he’d like to share

his experiences with stu-

dents. He’s been coming

ever since.

“The kids here show him

so much respect and atten-

tion. They’re glued to him,”

said Vitous. “We love him.

He’s a part of our culture

here.”

Magno, 47, has been prin-

cipal at Mt. Carmel for the

last seven years. After learn-

ing that Montemarano ne-

ver finished high school,

Magno contacted Burgard

High in Buffalo and was told

about Operation Recogni-

tion, a program enacted in

1999 in which veterans who

left school to serve in WWII,

or the Korean or Vietnam

wars can receive a fully ac-

credited diploma if they sub-

mit proof of military war

service.

“I just love the guy,”

Magno said. “Relationships

are at the core of who we are

as a school ... we honor, re-

spect and notice people.”

Kragen writes for the San

Diego Union-Tribune.

DOMINIC MONTEMARANO, left, with Principal Greg Magno at Mt. Carmel High School. Magno’s efforts

helped the 93-year-old, who speaks to students about his experiences in World War II, get his official diploma.

Nelvin C. CepedaSan Diego Union-Tribune

75 years later, WWII

veteran has his diploma

Principal works to get

certificate for man, 93,

who left high school

early to join the war.

By Pam Kragen

A brush fire erupted in
Eagle Rock on Sunday after-
noon, clogging freeways,
threatening homes and
sending up a large plume of
smoke that could be seen
across the Los Angeles
Basin.
The fire is thought to
have started about 4 p.m. in
the 2900 block of West Col-
orado Boulevard, near the
interchange of the 2 and 134
freeways, according to the
L.A. Fire Department.
The blaze spread to the
north side of the 134 Freeway
and threatened nearby
homes. Traffic jams were re-
ported on surface streets
throughout the area, includ-
ing Colorado Boulevard, as
portions of both freeways
were closed. The 134 Free-
way was shut down from
Figueroa Street to Glendale
Boulevard, and the 2 Free-
way was closed from Moun-
tain Street to the 5, accord-
ing to the California High-
way Patrol.
The fire had grown to 30
acres and was at 25% con-
tainment as of 8 p.m., ac-
cording to the Fire Depart-
ment, and the blaze’s for-
ward progress had stopped.
There were no reports of
injuries and no structures
burned, the Fire Depart-

ment said.

The city of Glendale is-

sued mandatory evacuation

orders along East Glenoaks

Boulevard from Mount

Carmel Drive to Bywood

Drive in Glendale. About 100

homes were affected. The or-

der was expected to be lifted

at 10 p.m., according to Glen-

dale Fire Department. An

evacuation center was

opened at Glendale Civic

Auditorium.

The biggest concern was

for the Glenoaks Canyon

area of Glendale, where fire-

fighters were focusing most

of their defenses. Officials

urged people to avoid the

area.

Fire officials were pound-

ing the blaze with helicopter

water drops, hoping to stop

it before it heads into resi-

dential areas.

The blaze was fueled by

high temperatures, but

there were no Santa Ana

wind conditions. Firefight-

ers were expected to moni-

tor the area overnight.

Brush fire in

Eagle Rock

prompts

evacuations

By Laura Newberry

Blaze shuts down

parts of the 2 and 134

freeways, jamming

surface streets.

A BRUSH FIRE approaches homes in the hills of
the Glenoaks Canyon area, where residents were
evacuated. People were urged to avoid the area.

Photographs by James CarboneGlendale News-Press

GLENDALEresidents

cover their faces as they

walk to their homes.

An Orange County sher-
iff ’s deputy who collapsed
and lost consciousness six
years ago during tryouts for
the SWAT team has died, of-
ficials said.
Carlos Cammon, 35, died
Friday night, Sheriff Don
Barnes announced Sat-
urday on his Twitter page.
He collapsed during the
tryout session July 18, 2013,
and never regained con-
sciousness, the sheriff said.
Cammon distinguished
himself during his six
years in the department, he
said.
“In 2010, Deputy Cam-
mon received the Medal of
Courage after he and three
other off-duty deputies sub-
dued a man with a knife as-
saulting a woman at a
restaurant in Orange,”
Barnes said. “Our depart-
ment family joins the Cam-
mon family in grieving the
loss of this brave young
man.”

Orange

County

deputy

dies

By Carlos Lozano

Disney executives un-

veiled a long list of new at-

tractions and upgrades at

the company’s resorts and

theme parks Sunday, in-

cluding a Spider-Man ride at

the newest land, dubbed

Avengers Campus, at Dis-

ney California Adventure

Park.

The additions and over-

hauls signal optimism by

Walt Disney Co. in the reve-

nue-generating power of its

theme parks and resorts, de-

spite the U.S. parks unit re-

porting a 3% drop in attend-

ance during the most recent

three-month period.

In front of a crowd of

cheering Disney fanatics at

D23, the biennial celebration

of all things Disney, Bob

Chapek, chairman of parks,

experiences and products,

cataloged for nearly two

hours the additions, expan-

sions and overhauls planned

for Disney parks in Ana-

heim, Paris, Hong Kong and

Orlando, Fla.

Some of the announce-

ments made at the Anaheim

Convention Center came

with musical presentations,

and legendary Disney actor

Dick Van Dyke made an ap-

pearance to plug a new fea-

ture at Walt Disney World

Resort in Orlando.

The newest addition to

California Adventure Park, a

new land themed after the

superheroes of Marvel com-

ics and movies, will include

an attraction that will let rid-

ers help Spider-Man shoot

webs to try to round up mal-

functioning “spider bots.”

The description of the

ride and images shown at

D23 suggest an interactive

ride, similar to Buzz

Lightyear’s Astro Blasters,

the Disneyland ride that has

riders laser-blast targets for

points.

The attraction fits into

the theme of the Marvel

land, which is to recruit new

superheroes to protect

Earth from evil supervil-

lains. The existing drop-

tower ride, Guardians of the

Galaxy — Mission: Break-

out, will be included in the

new land.

Chapek said the new land

will open in phases. The first

will open next year and the

second at an unannounced

later date, with a new attrac-

tion that will take park visi-

tors on a spaceship ride to

Wakanda, the fictional land

that is home to the super-

hero Black Panther.

Disneyland’s biggest ex-

pansion, Star Wars: Ga-

laxy’s Edge, also opened in

two phases, welcoming

guests in late May with only

one attraction, Millennium

Falcon: Smugglers Run. A

second attraction, Star

Wars: Rise of the Resistance,

opens Jan. 17.

Disney fans and others

have suggested that Ga-

laxy’s Edge has not drawn

crowds comparable to those

of previous expansions be-

cause it featured only one at-

traction. Disney officials

have rejected such theories,

calling Galaxy’s Edge a huge

success.

Chapek showed video

clips with scenes from the

upcoming attraction, Rise of

the Resistance. It depicts

guests in vehicles that roll

through a space vessel while

avoiding laser fire from

Stormtroopers and blasts

from tree-size All-Terrain

Walkers, like those used by

the evil Empire in previous

Star Wars movies.

“So, how thrilling is

that?” he asked the crowd.

Chapek announced a

new daytime parade, called

Magic Happens, for the

spring of 2020 at the Ana-

heim resort, featuring floats

with characters from Pixar

and Disney movies such as

“Coco,” “Moana” and “Sleep-

ing Beauty.” A new ride fea-

turing Mickey and Minnie

Mouse called Runaway Rail

will also open in Mickey’s

Toontown in Disneyland in

2022.

Many of the changes an-

nounced Sunday will take

place at the Walt Disney

World Resort in Orlando,

Chapek said. He described

an extensive overhaul of Ep-

cot, the themed land that

opened in 1982. He called it

the biggest overhaul of any

park in Disney history, in-

cluding new lands and re-

worked gardens and foun-

tains.

Van Dyke, who starred in

the 1964 musical film “Mary

Poppins,” came on stage

with Chapek to announce a

new Epcot attraction based

on the movie. Chapek was

short on details and offered

no timetable except to say it

would be part of the United

Kingdom Pavilion.

Disney officials an-

nounced the name of their

latest cruise ship — the Dis-

ney Wish — and offered de-

tails about a new cruise des-

tination, on the southern

point of the Bahamian is-

land of Eleuthera.

Joe Rohde, portfolio cre-

ative executive at Walt Dis-

ney Imagineering, described

the destination as a “great

seaside adventure camp”

that would be designed and

built with the help and co-

operation of locals in the Ba-

hamas. He did not say when

Disney cruise ships would

eventually land on the is-

land, and he didn’t mention

that environmentalists on

the island have opposed the

Disney port project.

“The end result will be

like no other,” he said.

Disney unmasks details of superhero land

A RENDERINGshows Avengers Campus, the new

land planned for Disney California Adventure Park

that is set to feature a Spider-Man attraction.

Walt Disney Co.

By Hugo Martin