Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

San Dieguito High honors classmates killed in battle

Twenty names read on Saturday, most by someone who knew them

Fallen Alumni Memorial monument, built in 2003.
Fallen Alumni Memorial monument, built in 2003.

During the Vietnam War, Del Mar resident 1st Lt. Jimmy Mitchell, a member of the 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, landed at Chu Lai in South Vietnam. On an August 31, 1965 patrol, the Marine from Del Mar was killed from a land mine explosion.

Nine of the 20 fallen San Dieguito alumni: Lopez, Cozens, Ramos, Mericantante, Curley, Peppin, Henricks, Dawson, Tworek

Mitchell graduated with San Dieguito High School’s class of 1959. He was ASB president, a surfer, lettered in several sports, and broke CIF records on the Mustang basketball team. He married his high school sweetheart, Jan Berttoncini, class of ‘61.

Upon their class’s tenth reunion in 1969, his friends and fellow classmates were shocked to learn of the death of Mitchell, along with fellow classmate, Navy Lt. Michael Zerbe, who was killed on April 15, 1966 after his helicopter crashed after takeoff from the USS Kitty Hawk.

Sponsored
Sponsored

It was then that classmates David “Chatto” Gonzalez and Jim Wheyland, who had also served in Vietnam, vowed that some day they would build a memorial on the high school campus, to honor their fallen friends.

As part of the campus’s 80th year anniversary, this past Memorial Day weekend, on May 27, over 60 relatives, friends, teachers, alumni, and students showed up to the campus’s Fallen Alumni Memorial monument, which was built in 2003 with the efforts of Gonzales, Wheyland, and other San Dieguito alumni veterans.

Each of the 20 names on the monument was read, most by someone who knew of the young men. They shared about the men’s interests in high school, their town, and their service to the country. Nine of the names were killed in action in World War II, with several having skipped graduation in order to enlist. Two names were from the Korean war. Nine were from Vietnam.

USN Capt. Richard Suttie, Class of ‘75, is the highest-ranking military officer to have graduated from San Dieguito. Suttie honored several of the fallen alumni, such as Private 1st Class David Peppin, Jr., from the Class of ‘65. Peppin, accepted into U.S. Naval Academy, fell ill, and had to drop out. In order to serve, he later joined the Marines in 1968.

“This was a Pat Tillman moment,” said Capt. Suttie, referring to the NFL star who gave up his football career to fight, and die, in Afghanistan after 9/11. “Being accepted at USNA meant he could have gone to any college he wanted to, graduated, and had a successful career. And yet he came back to join the Marines.”

Isaac Lopez represented his brother, Army Specialist 4 Victor “Chief” Lopez, from the Class of ’66. “Of all of us seven brothers, Chief was the only one that had his special personality; always smiling, always liked by everyone.” In the extended families of the close-knit Eden Gardens neighborhood of Solana Beach, a new grandson was named Chief, in remembrance of Lopez.

Tom Cozens, a fifth-generation Encinitasian, said after his uncle, Army Air Corpsman 2nd Lt. Richard Cozens died in his WWII B-24 bomber, in his personal effects, they found a opened letter with Tom’s recently-born baby picture inside. “He knew I was born,” said Cozens. “I’ve always had a special connection with him.”

Each year the school’s alumni association raises money to support partial college scholarships for two graduating students. The scholarships are given in memory of two of the fallen alumni.

The gathered group was advised that based on research by the alumni association., with information from the Department of Defense, no new names have had to be added to the monument from the Afghanistan or Iraq wars this year.

Ken Harrison is the chairman of the school’s alumni association.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

2024 continues to impress with yellowfin much closer to San Diego than they should be

New rockfish regulations coming this week as opener approaches
Next Article

San Diego's Uptown Planners challenged by renters from Vibrant Uptown

Two La Jolla planning groups fight for predominance
Fallen Alumni Memorial monument, built in 2003.
Fallen Alumni Memorial monument, built in 2003.

During the Vietnam War, Del Mar resident 1st Lt. Jimmy Mitchell, a member of the 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, landed at Chu Lai in South Vietnam. On an August 31, 1965 patrol, the Marine from Del Mar was killed from a land mine explosion.

Nine of the 20 fallen San Dieguito alumni: Lopez, Cozens, Ramos, Mericantante, Curley, Peppin, Henricks, Dawson, Tworek

Mitchell graduated with San Dieguito High School’s class of 1959. He was ASB president, a surfer, lettered in several sports, and broke CIF records on the Mustang basketball team. He married his high school sweetheart, Jan Berttoncini, class of ‘61.

Upon their class’s tenth reunion in 1969, his friends and fellow classmates were shocked to learn of the death of Mitchell, along with fellow classmate, Navy Lt. Michael Zerbe, who was killed on April 15, 1966 after his helicopter crashed after takeoff from the USS Kitty Hawk.

Sponsored
Sponsored

It was then that classmates David “Chatto” Gonzalez and Jim Wheyland, who had also served in Vietnam, vowed that some day they would build a memorial on the high school campus, to honor their fallen friends.

As part of the campus’s 80th year anniversary, this past Memorial Day weekend, on May 27, over 60 relatives, friends, teachers, alumni, and students showed up to the campus’s Fallen Alumni Memorial monument, which was built in 2003 with the efforts of Gonzales, Wheyland, and other San Dieguito alumni veterans.

Each of the 20 names on the monument was read, most by someone who knew of the young men. They shared about the men’s interests in high school, their town, and their service to the country. Nine of the names were killed in action in World War II, with several having skipped graduation in order to enlist. Two names were from the Korean war. Nine were from Vietnam.

USN Capt. Richard Suttie, Class of ‘75, is the highest-ranking military officer to have graduated from San Dieguito. Suttie honored several of the fallen alumni, such as Private 1st Class David Peppin, Jr., from the Class of ‘65. Peppin, accepted into U.S. Naval Academy, fell ill, and had to drop out. In order to serve, he later joined the Marines in 1968.

“This was a Pat Tillman moment,” said Capt. Suttie, referring to the NFL star who gave up his football career to fight, and die, in Afghanistan after 9/11. “Being accepted at USNA meant he could have gone to any college he wanted to, graduated, and had a successful career. And yet he came back to join the Marines.”

Isaac Lopez represented his brother, Army Specialist 4 Victor “Chief” Lopez, from the Class of ’66. “Of all of us seven brothers, Chief was the only one that had his special personality; always smiling, always liked by everyone.” In the extended families of the close-knit Eden Gardens neighborhood of Solana Beach, a new grandson was named Chief, in remembrance of Lopez.

Tom Cozens, a fifth-generation Encinitasian, said after his uncle, Army Air Corpsman 2nd Lt. Richard Cozens died in his WWII B-24 bomber, in his personal effects, they found a opened letter with Tom’s recently-born baby picture inside. “He knew I was born,” said Cozens. “I’ve always had a special connection with him.”

Each year the school’s alumni association raises money to support partial college scholarships for two graduating students. The scholarships are given in memory of two of the fallen alumni.

The gathered group was advised that based on research by the alumni association., with information from the Department of Defense, no new names have had to be added to the monument from the Afghanistan or Iraq wars this year.

Ken Harrison is the chairman of the school’s alumni association.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Angry Pete’s goes from pop-up to drive-thru

Detroit Pizza sidles into the husk of a shuttered Taco Bell
Next Article

Reader Music Issue short takes

Obervatory's mosh pit, frenetic Rafael Payare, Lemonhead chaos, bleedforthescene, Coronado Tasting Room
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.