Shasta County officials conduct months-long research project honoring local fallen heroes

SHASTA COUNTY, Calif. — Shasta County Veterans Services Office representatives are honoring those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country with a special display at the Shasta County Administration Building.

Back in 2023, Veterans Services Officer Wesley Tucker and two other VSO employees, Amy Hancock and Tarah Alverez, started planning a Memorial Day display to pay tribute to Shasta County residents who were killed in action. This was inspired by the Above and Beyond memorial recognizing fallen soldiers of the Vietnam War.

Over the course of nine months, the team then went through the National Archives, seeking out every county resident who's died in combat since World War I. Throughout this process, they found 146 fallen heroes in this category.

Each is represented with a replica dog tag bearing their name that's hanging in the display case inside the building on Court Street in Redding.

“Digging through the National Archives, it was a long process,” Tucker said. “But I think, because of the impact and how powerful we knew that the display could be, there was a lot of sense of excitement. And so we took it very, very seriously. It wasn’t a tedious chore. It was something that we wanted to be doing.”

The other side of the display has the battlefield cross, which is a soldier's boots, rifle, dog tags, and helmet on top of a wooden cross to represent the sacrifices of the fallen soldiers.

There’s also a published list of all the veterans included in the display.

Tucker told us the VSO welcomes community members letting them know if they’ve missed any names.

The public can visit the display on the second floor of the building during regular operating hours throughout the month of May. These hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays.

Tucker said, after this, he hopes the display can return again for the community to see every Memorial Day.