Embracing Holid ays the
ere’s no better time than the holidays to extend cheer to our loyal customers and friends. As the temperatures dip, the leaves drop, and snow dusts the mountaintops, families and friends gather to celebrate traditions. Good cheer and a sense of wonder is in the air. During this season we are especially grateful for the relationships we enjoy in the communities we have the pleasure of serving.
Everyone at Bank of Stockton wishes you the Happiest of Holidays!
In Turlock | 134 S. Golden State Blvd.
Veteran with terminal cancer inspires others in Turlock
U.S. Army Master Sgt. Richard Stayskal continues to fight the good fight
BY JOE CORTEZ Turlock Journal
Thirty seconds after meeting Richard Stayskal, I came to the conclusion that I liked the man.
Thirty seconds after that, I came to the conclusion that Richard Stayskal liked me, too.
Big and tall and movie-star handsome, one easily detects kindness in Stayskal’s eyes. His smile is comforting, and his demeanor is affable. He seems the type with whom you could strike up a conversation while you’re in line at a deli counter.
There’s probably one more thing you should know about this 43-year-old former U.S. Marine and current U.S. Army master sergeant.
Richard Stayskal is dying.
You should be angry about that. In fact, you should be outraged.
To be sure, all of us will meet the same fate someday, but most of us have the presumption of many more “somedays.”
Richard Stayskal does not. He knows that he will die sooner, rather than later.
“It’s not a matter of if, but when,” said Stayskal, who was in Turlock in November to speak about the Sgt. First Class Richard Stayskal Military Medical Accountability Act — federal legislation passed in his name with the help of Jackie Speier, a former Democratic member of Congress who now sits on the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors.
In July of 2017, Stayskal was diagnosed by a civilian doctor with advanced Stage 3 lung cancer, learning only then that his military hospital had failed to recognize the early-stage tumor in his right lung six months earlier. Six months later, he was told there was no hope.
“I was talking to my civilian doctor one day and he said, ‘I’m a doctor, and I’m not for suing, but you should be suing the pants of somebody for this, because this is bad,’” said Stayskal, who was initially told he had pneumonia.
However, due to a 1950 Supreme Court ruling known as the Feres Doctrine, the government is not liable for injuries
that “arise out of or are in the course of activity incident to service.”
In other words, active service members and veterans can’t sue Uncle Sam.
That didn’t sit well with Stayskal, who earned a Purple Heart and Bronze Star serving his country in Iraq. Just shy of his 23rd birthday in 2004, the then-Marine corporal had his lung punctured by a sniper’s round during a battle in Ramadi.
Stayskal was honorably discharged from the Marines in 2005, but joined the Army a year later. In 2017, when he needed a chest scan in preparation for dive school, his cancer was misdiagnosed.
It was the military’s nearly complete disregard for his condition that led him to become something of amateur politician, meeting with Capitol Hill legislators who weren’t that sympathetic to his cause, either.
Stayskal was undeterred.
“If they don’t care, how do I make them care?” said Stayskal, a native of San Jose who now resides in North Carolina.
“I started reading, I started studying, I started asking people questions, I started Googling ‘How does D.C. work?’ It just took a lot of time and lot of research and I didn’t have anything to lose at the time.”
Two years later, legislation was passed, and Stayskal explains the new law like this:
“In short, if you’re in the service, and within three years of the incident, you can file an admin claim with the branch of service through the (Department of Defense),” Stayskal said. “So, you find yourself an attorney, they do all the legal research and then they submit the claim to DOD, but through the exact branch you’re serving in. Then they make a judgment call on whether you deserve compensation for the malpractice.”
The sad irony is that Stayskal’s claim was denied.
According to a story in the Washington Post, the Army Claims Service wrote in 2022 that “the experts have determined that had MSG Stayskal’s cancer been diagnosed anytime between January 27 and June 27, 2017, his treatment and
prognosis would have been essentially the same.”
Still, Stayskal continues to fight. He and his wife, Megan, have high-school-aged daughters — Addisyn, 17, and Carly, 15. “I had to look at my kids and they didn’t quite understand (in 2017),” Stayskal remembered. “I worried what will they think when they’re older. Not that I worried they’d think I was a failure, but was I teaching them, ‘Eh, let’s just let this one go and move on’ or is the whole country founded on the principle that somebody at some point said, ‘This isn’t right. What am I going to do?’ So, do I want to just sit here and pass away, or do something with the time I’ve got?”
Part of that time was spent in Turlock last week, a stop-over on his way to Veterans Day festivities in Patterson. He was hosted by Turlock resident and retired U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Kelley Coelho for an evening at Dust Bowl Brewing Co., where he talked to other veterans and service members about their struggles and concerns.
“If they have any type of case that they’re struggling with internally, we’re going
to help to try to spearhead that and find a solution for the service members and veterans,” said Coelho, now the CEO of B and C Investigations. “I met Richard through my advocating in Washington D.C. … We wanted to find other avenues to bring in key individuals that have a lot of pull, and they’re right here in our back yard in Stanislaus County.”
As the evening wound down, Stayskal shook hands and casually chatted with other service members and veterans, sharing his story and listening to theirs. Every once in a while, he turned away from his guests and coughed gently.
“I’m not sick,” he assured me, perhaps thinking I might fear catching a cold — or worse.
As I prepared to leave the gathering, I shook Stayskal’s hand, looked him in the eye and said sincerely, “I’m glad to have met you, Richard. I hope to see you again.”
“Me, too,” he said.
Deep down, we both seemed to sense that it’s unlikely our paths will ever cross again. But deeper down, for some reason, I don’t doubt they will.
Photos contributed
LEFT: Richard Stayskal was in Turlock in November at the invitation of Turlock resident and retired U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Kelley Coelho to speak about the Sgt. First Class Richard Stayskal Military Medical Accountability Act; RIGHT: Richard Stayskal, a Marine corporal, had his lung punctured by a sniper’s round while serving in Iraq in 2004.
Wreaths Across America
Each holiday season, Wreaths Across America coordinates an extraordinary display of military appreciation as wreath-laying ceremonies are held in 50 states and beyond.
This non-profit organization gathers on a designated Saturday with the assistance of numerous selfless volunteers to place these commemorative items at gravesites in hundreds of locations.
To put these efforts in perspective, the program began with 5,000 donated wreaths in 1992. Now, more than 140,000 wreaths are annually placed at Arlington National Cemetery alone. Tens of thousands of patriotic Americans take part, and more than 1,000 local fundraising groups have joined in to coordinate local wreath-laying ceremonies.
HOW IT BEGAN
The owner of Worcester Wreath Company in Harrington, Maine, initially established Wreaths Across America in the early ‘90s. The idea originated when Morrill Worcester had an excess of wreaths and decided to donate them as a tribute to local veterans, according to the Worcester company’s official website. Wreaths Across America obtained official recognition in 2008. They later made arrangements to place wreaths in one of the older sections of Arlington National Cemetery, with the
assistance of Maine’s U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe and local volunteers. The advent of social media helped the effort grow by leaps and bounds. Today, thousands take part in this coordinated ceremony to show heartfelt holiday appreciation for those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
GETTING INVOLVED
The Wreaths Across America theme for 2024 is “Live With Purpose.” Karen Worcester, the organization’s executive director, said, “Over the course of the last year, and then especially on the escort to Arlington last December, I listened to people who had gone through great adversity, and they’d taken that adversity and turned it around as a call to action to spend the rest of their lives making sure that every day was meaningful and that they lived with purpose.”
Anyone can take part individually by placing a wreath as a tribute to veterans in their local community. You can join or help organize larger wreath-laying ceremonies, or contribute directly to the Wreaths Across America program. They offer special wreath sponsorships at Arlington National Cemetery. The organization encourages everyone to invite friends and family to take part in honoring fallen service members, this and every year.
Turlock continues to honor its active military
BY KRISTINA HACKER Turlock Journal
It’s no secret that the residents of Turlock are proud of the many men and women from the community who are serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. This pride can be seen by everyone who traverses Countryside Drive, where 25 banners display the names and photos of service members.
Turlock’s Military Banner Program has become so popular that City staff requested an expansion of the program in 2019 to include 10 more banners.
The Active Military Banner Program was launched in November 2017. The program currently includes 25, 8-foot tall banners installed on light poles along Countryside Drive between Fulkerth Road and Monte Vista Avenue. Each banner features the service member’s name, photo and branch of service and is displayed for a one-year term.
The approved expansion will see new banners placed on light poles along Coun-
tryside Drive between West Monte Vista Avenue and Sun Valley Court (towards Ten Pin Fun Center and Hobby Lobby).
In August 2018, the Council voted to make two changes to the program.
Eligibility guidelines were expanded to include not only Turlock residents but also those who live or have immediate family members who live in unincorporated towns bordering Turlock, which are Crows Landing, Hilmar, Keyes, Delhi, Ballico and Denair.
The City also started a Fallen Active Military banner option. Upon approval of the service member’s family, a Fallen soldier banner is hung with the name, picture, military branch symbol along with a black ribbon. The Fallen soldier banner is on display indefinitely or until the family requests it be retired.
More information on the Military Banner Program can be found at: https:// cityofturlock.org/activemilitarybanner/
Turlock launched its Active Military Banner Program in November 2017.
Honoring the legacy of the Padilla family
BY SHAWN PINTOR-DAY Special to the Journal
Even for those who are not associated with any form of military background, one need not look farther than Los Banos, which has been home to the Padillas, a family which included eight war veterans (six who served in World War II and two who served in the Korean War, Charles and Joseph), whose legacy is steeped in both valor and charity, and their impact resonates far beyond the scope of the holiday of remembrance.
The Padilla family have been giving back to the U.S. since the moment they set foot on American soil. Originally having their roots in Mexico, the Padillas migrated from their home city of Zacatecas to the United States, hoping to escape the turmoil of the Mexican Civil War.
Arriving in Texas by train, the Padillas made their way to San Bernardino, CA, where Longino, the Padilla patriarch, found work at a railroad settlement and eventually saved up enough to move further north and secure a property in Azusa, CA.
Their slow migration came to an end in the mid-1920’s when they reached the Westside of Merced County in 1925, attracted to the heart of the Central Valley by the many farming opportunities near the “Dos Palos Y” available to migrant workers. The Padila family, including Longino and his sons, spent many years there working at the Sam Hamburg Ranch, helping to turn it into a thriving agricultural business.
The Padilla family consisted of Longino, Sabina, their eight sons (Abraham, Gilbert, Santos, John, David, Benny, Charles and Joseph) and their only daughter (Virginia, who lived in Los Banos until she died). The family lived an honest, quiet life in the heart of California for just over a decade until the second World War loomed on the American Horizon.
Spurred into action by the impact the devastation of the Mexican Revolution had on their parents, six of the Padilla brothers joined the army between 1941 and 1945--Abraham, Gilbert, Santos, John, David and Benny--with Abraham enlisting four days before the war was
officially declared.
Abraham (Abe) Padilla, stationed in Germany at the height of the war, earned himself a Bronze Star for the heroic rescue of a fellow soldier. During an intense ground assault amidst snowy German hills, an American tank had been dealt a devastating blow by enemy artillery.
Hearing cries from a wounded and frightened but very much alive squad mate, Padilla rushed from the safety of his combat vehicle headlong into a blizzard of shrapnel and gunfire. Managing to free his comrade from the twisted metal of the destroyed tank, Padilla found the soldier with debilitating wounds on both legs.
Never even considering leaving a man behind, Padilla hauled his brother-inarms half a mile up a snowy hill to the nearest allied shelter, fighting against the brutal cold of a German winter, never knowing if the next footstep would be his last.
Gilbert Padilla staked his legacy mainly among community organizers after the war. Returning from the American military’s reconstruction efforts he was a part of in Japan after World War II, Padilla returned to Los Banos and found bleak employment opportunities. Agricultural field work was scarce due to Mexican braceros who were hired to do the work.
Gilbert found employment, however, in the cleaning business and learned the trade well first in Los Banos and then in Hanford, CA.
In 1955 Gilbert met Cesar Chavez in Hanford, where Chavez was working for the Community Service Organization (CSO), a Latino civil rights organization. Chavez enlisted the help of Gilbert, who became a volunteer of the organization for several years. Chavez hired Gilbert as a staff member of the CSO in 1960, working as a community organizer until 1962.
At the March 1962 CSO convention, Chavez proposed that a farmworker program be adopted by the organization. The CSO did not approve the program, and Chavez resigned from the organization on April 15, 1962.
The decision not to approve the
farmworker program was the spark that gave impetus for Chavez and Padilla to begin organizing farmworkers that led to the creation and establishment of the United Farm workers Union in 1972.
“Si Se Puede” became the rallying call of thousands of volunteers and students of the Chicano movement and others who supported the farmworkers’ cause.
Alex Cardoza herself has become quite the archivist for her family’s stories and keepsakes, and eagerly collects and catalogs the many artifacts her father and uncles have brought back from their time in the military. She is the sole preserver of many of her family’s photos, records, and traditions, and even managed to retrieve a series of records that were nearly destroyed in a fire at the National Archives in Washington.
“I’ve always wanted to tell my family story,” Cardoza said. “My whole life I’ve been interested in these stories. My aunt had a photo of all my uncles, and I was always in awe of that picture and what they stood for.”
Becky Padilla, Gilbert’s daughter, has
similar praise for her father for both surviving the war and being such an active participant in California’s steps toward civil treatment of migrant workers.
“I’d ask my father what he did during his years in the war, and he would always just say ‘I was a crane operator,’” Becky Padilla recalled warmly. “He was always more about human rights, about helping the neighbor who didn’t have enough to feed his family or about the person down the street who needed shoes.”
Similar to his older brother Abe, Gilbert Padilla never spoke about his military experience other than his aforementioned crane, and his surviving relatives would even describe his disdain for firearms as “intense.” “He is a loving brother who was always there for family,” Becky Padilla proudly said. “He’s just a really good guy.”
With all the turmoil in the world, it is important to know that great people can hail from anywhere, in any generation, and migrating to the country you call home is just as important as being born on the same soil.
Submitted photo
The six Padilla brothers who served in World War II include, from left, David, Gilbert, Benny, John, Santos and Abraham.
