Latest news with #Orange-based
ABC News
24-04-2025
- General
- ABC News
'Lost' WW1 soldiers formally recognised with headstones after community effort
A remarkable grassroots effort between a family historian and a volunteer organisation has resulted in 107 soldiers in unmarked graves receiving headstones and official commemoration. Discovering the identities of the soldiers in the central west NSW cemetery began with the name of just one man. In 2018, Orange-based historian Sharon Jameson was compiling a list of local servicemen for World War I centenary commemorations when she came across a name she had not seen before in a newspaper article from 1921. "I found a William Wrangham in the paper [but] there was no record anywhere of him in Orange," Ms Jameson said. William Wrangham's death notice in The Orange Leader, May 1921. ( Supplied: Sharon Jameson ) Ms Jameson dug deeper and managed to establish that William Wrangham was born in England and may have been looking for gold in the Orange district when he had fallen ill and died in hospital of complications from being gassed. Wartime rations meant he was buried simply in an unmarked grave. Struck by the tragedy of Mr Wrangham's lonely end, Ms Jameson wrote to "I said, 'How do I go about getting [a war grave]?' and they said, 'Just leave it with us'," Ms Jameson said. Almost 100 years after his death, Private William Wrangham received a war grave. It inspired Ms Jameson to continue digging. "Somebody at [Orange] family history said, 'Oh, there'll be more than one soldier out there' and I thought, 'Well, I'll bloody well find them'," she said. Survived the war but not the peace With the help of a friend, Ms Jameson set about combing through council burial records and comparing them to service records to establish how many soldiers lay in unmarked graves in Orange's general cemetery. "That's when we found 107 [soldiers] who didn't have a grave," Ms Jameson said. John Fargie was buried in an unmarked grave in Orange in 1944. ( Supplied: Sharon Jameson ) Ms Jameson said the men's war records gave them vital clues to the men's post-war lives, including what injury or illness they might have had. The women discovered 48 of the 107 men had died in the Bloomfield mental health facility at Orange. They included English-born William Crumpler, who was sent to Bloomfield after suffering a nervous breakdown while working in Parkes. He later died alone in a strange town, unaware that his sister was searching for him. "He really touched my soul, that man," Ms Jameson said. " They dug a hole, popped him in with the minister saying 'Bless you, bless you' and filled in the hole. " A more 'enlightened' approach By writing to the Office of Australian War Graves and telling their individual stories, Ms Jameson was able to secure an official Commonwealth war grave for 40 of the 107 men. A further 17 men who couldn't be physically located in the cemetery had their names commemorated on a memorial wall, funded by a combination of donations and government grants. Condoblin brothers Fabian and Francis Leonard. Fabian was commemorated on the memorial wall. ( Supplied: Sharon Jameson ) The remaining 50 men were deemed ineligible for a Commonwealth war grave by the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) on the basis that they did not meet the criteria for official commemoration. In a statement, the DVA said post-service deaths that were not due to the veterans' war service were not eligible for commemoration via a war grave. But Forgotten Digger founder John Thomas has been fighting to change that, saying the definition is too limited. "Every one of these men's deaths was war-related in one way or another," Mr Thompson said. "No-one who went to that war came back the same as they went away." His organisation aims to identify every unmarked WWI digger grave. It was instrumental in helping Ms Jameson commemorate Orange's 107 soldier burials through research and fundraising support. "I'd like to think that a more enlightened approach would be that they don't qualify for a formal Commonwealth War Grave, but we can do something for them," Mr Thompson said. "At the moment it's, 'Sorry, they don't qualify, that's the end of it'." John Thomas says the government should widen its definition of who qualifies for an official war grave. ( ABC Central West: Murray McCloskey ) In a statement, a spokesperson for the DVA said it accepted liability for deaths due to service-related injuries or diseases during or after service, including mental health conditions or suicide, where they were related to the veteran's service. "If a First World War veteran's grave is found to be ineligible for official commemoration, interested parties can apply for funding of up to $620 through the Marking (First World War) Private Graves Grants Program," a spokesperson said. But Mr Thomas said the grant amounts did not cover the full cost of the grave and that the government needed to do more. "$620 for a man's life? It's not a lot to ask," he said.
Los Angeles Times
16-04-2025
- Health
- Los Angeles Times
3 Irvine city officials honor Planned Parenthood after chamber rescinds award
The Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce was all set in January to recognize organizations, businesses and individuals whose innovative work makes a meaningful difference in healthcare and patient outcomes, when a mysterious last-minute edit to the event's program was made. One of the recipients due to be honored — Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties — was quietly removed from all public mention associated with the Jan. 16 ceremony. Irene Salazar, senior vice president of community education and outreach for the Orange-based nonprofit, said members of her team were 'devastated' to hear the news on the day of the event. 'At first I was a little bit shocked. We thought maybe it was a safety issue,' she said of the organization whose Costa Mesa health center was the scene of a 2022 firebombing attempt that spurred the need for a security presence at public occasions. 'Then we found out it was something completely different.' Held at the Hilton Irvine, the chamber's Excellence in Healthcare and Innovation award had intended to pay tribute to Planned Parenthood's 'Equal Voices' and Male Involvement programs — two initiatives that provide education, support and a forum for students with intellectual disabilities and young men in the justice system, respectively. Instead, officials were told by the Irvine chamber's chief executive Dave Coffaro their removal from the night's program was 'a business decision,' though no additional information was provided. They were offered the chance to receive the award in private, so long as they did not post about it in social media or share the news publicly. They declined. Representatives of the Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce, including Coffaro, did not respond Tuesday to requests for comment on the matter. Sadaf Rahmani, who oversees public affairs for PPOSBC, said some wondered at the timing of the chamber's decision, just days before Donald Trump's second presidential inauguration and amid increasing rhetoric about the dismantling of educational programs aligned with diversity, equity and inclusion standards. 'Being Planned Parenthood, it's easy to see what they may have meant by 'business decision,' especially given the environment we're in right now with the current administration,' Rahmani said. 'So, we were disappointed but not necessarily surprised by this.' Still, the snubbing was unsettling given that, in June 2022, the Irvine City Council passed a resolution formally opposing the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of Roe vs. Wade and encouraging residents to 'continue to support efforts to protect reproductive freedom, through education and advocacy.' The declaration was proposed by then-Mayor Farrah Khan and adopted on a 3-2 vote, with former Councilman Anthony Kuo and current Councilman Mark Carroll opposed. Now, a contingent of relatively new Irvine City Council members have stepped up to show their support for Planned Parenthood's programs and impact on the local community — and to deliver the recognition they say the group and its staff deserve. During an April 7 summit hosted by the Public School Defenders Hub, an initiative of the Anaheim-based nonprofit Contemporary Policy Institute, Irvine council members Kathleen Treseder, Melina Liu and William Go presented a certificate of recognition as a gesture of appreciation for Planned Parenthood's local outreach programs. Liu, who attended the Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce award ceremony in January, initially had no idea of the rescinded award and was stunned to hear from others what had happened. 'I reached out to our government relations person and tried to see if there was anything we could do to give them the proper recognition,' she said. 'I find their services invaluable, as far as what they've done [to assist] our low-income population and what they've done to educate young men and women. That's a very indispensable part of what they do.' Treseder said she reached out to Irvine Mayor Larry Agran, who had backed the 2022 council resolution supporting reproductive freedom, to see whether officials might present some formal recognition to Planned Parenthood in a council meeting presentation, but he wasn't interested. So, she teamed up with Liu and Good, and the trio was made aware of the April 7 summit in their communications with the nonprofit. 'I think Planned Parenthood deserves all the recognition in the world,' Treseder said Tuesday. 'They're working with folks who might not otherwise be able to get healthcare. In addition, I'm really relying on them to beat the drum for reproductive freedom for our young women. [They're] on the front lines and they don't back down — we need them.' Rahmani said she and her colleagues are grateful to the Irvine City Council members for rectifying the situation. 'We're certainly not going to be silenced, whether it's providing care in health centers or the education team working out in the community,' she added. 'We're always going to be loud and proud of the service we provide and the work that we do.'
