A PHOTO REMEMBRANCE OF FALLEN SAN JOSE POLICE OFFICER RICHARD HUERTA - 2013

In my book "La Nostra Costa" (Our Coast), I write about the brutal killing of my best friend San Jose Police Officer Richard Eugene Huerta, on August 6, 1970 and how it affected my personal and professional life.,  I previously posted these photos on the Vintage San Jose Police Facebook page; now I publish them on the LNostra-Costa Blog in Remembrance of Richard

This is a photo of Richard's Academy Class, c.1963. He stands second from the left in the back row.

This photo was taken in my backyard in San Jose in July 1969.  One year later in August of 1970, Richard (pictured in the center) was shot and killed in the line of duty. On Richard's left is SJPD Sergeant Ray Obierne




                                                                        

                                                                        

                                       Officer Richard Eugene Huerta on Patrol c. 1970


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Flag flying at half staff in remembrance of Fallen Officer Richard Huerta. The photo was taken in front of the Police Administration Building in August 1970. I believe that the SJPD Officer standing at attention is Robert Gummow.

       US Marine and SJPD Honor Guard  for Fallen Officer Richard Huerta, August 1970.

Pallbearers attending to Richard Huerta's casket, Aug. 1970. On the left side (front to rear): Officers Richard Yuhas,  Jim Emmons and Tom Perez.  Right side (front to rear): Sgt. Ivan Comelli, Officers Fred Esparza and Jim Larsen. Lt. Bill Bown stands at the extreme right corner of the photo.

 San Jose Police Motorcycle Officers escorting Fallen Officer Richard Huerta to Grave site at Oakhill Memorial Cemetery in San Jose, Aug. 1970.

Laying Fallen Officer Richard Huerta to rest at Grave site at Oakhill Memorial Cemetery, San. Jose, Aug. 1970. Officers facing camera (l-r): Sgt. Ivan Comelli, Officers Fred Esparza and Jim Larsen. Backs to the camera (l-r) Officers Richard Yuhas, Jim Emmons and Tom Perez.

San Jose Police Identification Officers Christine Mendoza (on the left) and Janie Jensen placing flowers on  Richard's casket, Oakhill Memorial Cemetery, San Jose, Aug. 1970. Long time San Jose Police Records Person, Margie Thompson can be seen in the background (middle) in the  light color dress.

Remembrance of Fallen Officer Richard Huerta, written by Editor Richard Cadenasso and appearing in the Aug. 14, 1970, publication  of the Vanguard, a San Jose Peace Officers Association newsletter.

Dedication of Richard Huerta Park at Hillsdale Ave. west of Ross Street, in San Jose, Oct. 10, 1974. Richard's Mother (center) receives plague from San Jose Police Chief Robert Murphy (left). San Jose Mayor Norman Mineta stands at the right.

 Lt. Ivan F. Comelli marches San Jose Police Honer Guard into Richard Huerta Park, Oct. 10, 1974.

 Richard's Mother in tearful remembrance of her fallen son. Photo taken at Richard Huerta Park dedication Oct. 10,1974.  Officer Joe Hasselman (in uniform) is seated in front row, second from right.  Deputy Chief Robert Allen (in uniform) is seated in second row directly behind Richard's mother. San Jose Mayor Norman Mineta is seated in the second row on the end at the left.

          Official Dedication Annoucement of Richard Huerta Park in San Jose California, Oct. 10, 1974.

A WINDOW TO THE PAST

 

This photo tells it all. For me, its like having a window into the past.

 

It is one of my favorite photos and it appears on page 77 of my book "La Nostra Costa  (Our Coast) [LNC]. It is captioned "BRONCO IN HIS RANCERE OUTFIT C.1950". I took this photo from the inside of our bedroom in our old house on the Gulch Ranch. In it you can see "Bronco", my father, like he would be dressed to go to work each morning. In the background to the right you can see the clothesline that my mother hung clothes to dry. Capi, our dog, appears to be watching for something. And to the left with the "Keep Out" sign on the door is the club house where my brother and I kept and read our "Funny Books" . And where we played Italian songs [some with a Fascist flare to them]  on an  old  stand up Victrola phonograph. [LNC : pages 145-147]

You can also see the enclosed chicken yard where we kept our chickens. Inside that chicken yard to the left, out of view, is where Bronco almost got arrested as an Alien Spy, while feeding our rabbits in their hutches, during a WW II Blackout. [LNC: Pages 30-31]  All of this is gone now, except for the distant field. BTW: Near the top of the photo, horizontally across along where the crops end, is part of the race course my brother John and I took when racing in the "Old Carrettone", our old family car.[LNC: Pages 261-263]

 

 

 

THE DELUCCA ACCIDENT - SIXTY-SIX YEARS AGO TODAY

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IVANO SAYS: I posted this today on our La Nostra Costa (Our Coast) Facebook page. I know that some of my LNostra-Costa "Blagga" friends (Gino Campioni for one) to not do Facebook for personal reasons. Therefore,  I'm posting this for you  to see.

At approximately 6:30 PM on August 1, 1947, sixty-six years ago today, quite possibly the worst accident in Santa Cruz North Coast History occurred at the intersection of Swanton Road and Coast Hwy 1. The photo below appeared in the SC Sentinel that year, and shows the two vehicles, a California Department of Forestry Truck and a 1941 Buick passenger car after the violent collision. None of the six member Fire crew was killed, however; five of passengers in the Buick did not survive the accident. “The Sentinel identified the dead victims as Amerigo DeLucca, age thirty-six, Donna DeLucca, age four , Anthony DeLucca, age 9, Mr. Manual Quadros, age sixty, and Mrs. Manuel Quadros, age fifty-five.” [La Nostra Costa (Our Coast) Page 291]

 

 

For my personal views and additional photos "clicca": http://nostra-costa.blogspot.com/2007/07/collision-course-delucca-accident.html