In Memory of a Hero East L.A. Man is Focus of Planned Monument to Latino Medal Winners
By Deborah Sullivan Special to the Times.
                  Courtesy of the Los Angeles Times June 28, 1994

A Military portrait of Eugene Obregon graces the wall of his mother's house
in Pico Rivera, next to a photo of the ship that bears his name.  In the 44 years
since his death, Henrietta Obregon has attended dedication ceremonies for a school,
a barracks, an American Legion post and three parks named for her son, a Medal of
Honor Recipient.

Now Willliam Lansford and Al Flores want to turn the name Eugene Obregon into a
symbol of civic pride and ethnic unity with a monument that they hope to build in his memory in Los Angeles' Pershing Square.

Lansford and Flores learned of the East Los Angeles soldier a dozen years ago while
skimming through a history of Latinos in the armed services. The two Mexican American veterans of World War II hd long dreamed of building a memorial to Latino Medal of Honor Recipients, and Obregon's story seemed to offer a compelling message.