Travis County Commssioners Court
May 25, 2004
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Item 6
Number 6 is to approve resolution rededicates the monument commemorating veteran's buried at the Travis County international cemetery. And you come forth, I think we have individuals here to receive this. It reads whereas a lobe call vet an's organization recognizing July of 1993, that encourages community participation from all veterans of military branches, the benefit of veterans, citizens and the children of Austin and Travis County, work to dedicate those buried at the Travis County international cemetery through the annual sponsorship of an annual memorial day event. Well-known for the services their members provide in and around the central Texas area, particularly its renowned color guard which is called to present our nation's colors at an evergrowing number of events every year. Whereas on the occasion of the two year anniversary of the dedication of the stone monument located at the Travis County international ceremony, as a, quote, special tribute, to our veterans, to our fellow veterans, end quotes, that dedicated on March 30th, 1994 by tejanos in action, and by mr. Mendoza, a well-known civil rights activist, it's appropriate that we honor and recognize those persons that give of their time and resources to aid our community, whereas mr. Mendoza's legacy as a community organizer and member of the original cinco de mayo committee, efforts to help our community health and the poor, and the donation of monument at the international cemetery are legendary, this has helped make Travis County a great place to live. Be it resolved that with the Travis County, on the tenth anniversary of original dedication, rededicate the monument at the Travis County international cemetery and extend special thanks to them for service to our country, the family of esteban mendoza for their work to commemorate the contributions of those veterans and I move approval. And mr. Mendoza is here today.
>> no, mr. Mendoza passed away in 1998.
>> we do have here, though, tejanos in action, current commander of tejanos in action, we would like to invite everybody for our ceremony. If y'all can make it, we would certainly appreciate that.
>> and we also had...
>> I'm mr. Mendoza's daughter. First of all, I want to give thank the lord, give him all the honor for allowing me to be here today. And I had written -- kept writing everything that I thought would be important to my father, but then I look at other stuff and I said, "i can't read this stuff, I'm going to have to say it from the heart." Okay. Tejanos in action were funded in 1993 and one of the founding members was my husband, jesse rodriguez, and frank mendez, and fuentes and david hassle, and I believe -- I can't remember all the other ones. And so they adopted several charitable groups here in Austin in Travis County and one of the main things that is very important is that they adopted the international cemetery. Before the international cemetery was a mess. I mean it was a mess. It was brush and call kinds of trash all over, people go over there and drink and stuff and you find all kind of stuff there, and they decided to go ahead and clean it up when they found out there were veterans buried there. There wasn't any kind of memorial for them. They cleaned it up and with the help of the county, Travis County, it's being upkept today. So I want to give you a little background on my father, steve mendoza. My father was very -- was a very proud man and he did things with a lot of dignity, but he -- he also -- he contributed a lot to the community in various forms, and if I go down and list all the forms, I mean in whatever way that he contributed to the community, I mean i'll be here all day. So my father was at -- he was a stone mason. He was a carpenter. He was a brick layer. And he just had all kinds of trades. And so one of the other things that I'm very proud of him is that he -- his musical talent. He played the piano very eloquently and he played the -- played the violin and he also sang. He sang -- the first mariachis that was formed here in Austin was formed by willie mendoza and he also sang with them at the beginning of it. And like I say, you know, when tia decided to go ahead and do something for this international cemetery, I believe they went to my brother, my father, they asked, you know, for a monument or something, you know, so my father said, well, why don't we just go ahead and give it to him? So he decided to just go ahead and donate the stone and the monument and it's so beautiful. I mean you go in there and it's breath taking and the cemetery looks so nice, so pretty and everything, that I mean when I die I want to be buried there. And the guys did the bottom portion of the cemetery, I mean of the stone that is rounded around the monument and -- and I would like to thank, you know, the tejanos international group along with my husband, he's sitting in back, but all the veterans groups that have contributed to the community in one way or the other, and they're still contributing, and the tejanos in action is a very special group and most of them are vietnam veterans, so to me it's very special because, you know, the vietnam veterans suffered a lot of stuff, you know, after they came back from vietnam, and they're still suffering, you know, and so in -- in their honor and in the honor of my father, and my brother who also helped, his name was jason mendoza, he also helped and he's already passed away too, I give the tejanos in action a lot of credit for adopting this cemetery and adopting several other charitable groups in the community.
>> okay. We appreciate your continuing the fight also. Yes, sir? Any comments today?
>> I would like to say something about mexican-americans and in particular tejanos. During the war in vietnam, more mexican-americans were killed in proportion in their numbers than any other race, but the battle for independence goes back all the way to 1813. August the 8th, 1813, over a thousand tejanos were killed. But y'all don't even know where. It's called the battle medina. They were fighting for the same reasons. And that will be in my upcoming book. Tejanos being edited by tijerina.
>> any comments? This is your golden opportunity.
>> I think everybody has said all that needs to be said.
>> we do appreciate the work of the tejanos in action. Last time I saw the monument it was still very attractive. That's been maybe more than a year, but this rededication I think is appropriate. All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> thank you. Thanks for coming down. Thank you.
Last Modified: Friday, May 26, 2004 7:00 PM