The city has launched its first-ever banner program along Carson Street in East Long Beach to honor 25 Long Beach military veterans, both living and deceased.

The banners are now hanging on Carson Street between Clark and Woodruff avenues, and will be on display through May.

The city’s Veterans Commission solicited nominations, and more than 60 veterans and their families responded.

The commission in April selected the list of this year’s honorees:

  • Val Lerch, a former member of the City Council and veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard. Lerch died in 2021.
  • John Oppenheim, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force.
  • Smoky Northcutt, a U.S. Navy veteran.
  • Walter McHugh, an Air Force veteran.
  • James Silva, a Marine Corps veteran.
  • Joseluis G. Flores, a U.S. Navy veteran.
  • Mike Metal, a U.S. Navy veteran.
  • Larry Muszynski, a U.S. Navy veteran.
  • Jack C. Carlson, who enlisted in the U.S. Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
  • Jim Dolan, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps.
  • Thomas M. Poyer, who served as a Yeoman, 2nd Class at the Naval Air Station in Los Alamitos.
  • Frank J. King, who joined the U.S. Navy in 1943 during World War II.
  • Walter Frank Hoffland, who enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1938 and lived in Long Beach for many years before his death in 1983.
  • Stephanie M. Thomas, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force.
  • Hideto Nelson Tanaka, a veteran of the U.S. Army during World War II despite his family being separated and placed in internment camps.
  • Tibor Rubin, who, at the age of 15, was captured and sent to Mauthausen concentration camp where he survived until he was liberated in 1945 by the U.S. Army. He immigrated to the United States in 1948, determined to serve the country that saved him, and joined the U.S. Army in 1949.
  • Peter Dey, a veteran of the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Higbee, who died in March just as the banners were being announced.
Banners have been installed honoring local veterans along Carson Street between Clark and Woodruff avenues in Long Beach, Tuesday, July 9, 2024. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.
  • Malcolm Harvey, who served in the U.S. Navy from 1980-1990.
  • Josh “Smitty” Smith, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.
  • Rodrigo Hernández, who served in the U.S. Army for 22 years.
  • Hal Gosling, who enlisted in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War era.
  • Randall Laster, who served in the U.S. Army in the early 1970s.
  • Scott B. Flanigan, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq as part of the combat team during “The Surge” in 2006-2007, leading the “Dead Rabbits” of Baker Company.
  • Gilbert Dodson, who served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.
  • Russell Zawalick, who enlisted in the Marine Corps after high school in 1986.

The veterans banner program was made possible by a one-time, general fund allocation of $10,000 in the city’s 2024 budget.

To learn more about each veteran honoree, click here.

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