A small crowd gathered beneath the sweltering sun at Hillcrest Park on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, to rededicate Fullerton’s World War II Memorial, a 2,000-year-old redwood crosscut that has honored local military servicemen for 80 years.

Ten community members joined Fullerton city staff for the ceremony, including Mayor Fred Jung and Councilmember Dr. Shana Charles. During the event, Mayor Jung presented Jensen Hallstrom with an award for advocating the memorial’s preservation and refurbishment.

Fullerton Public Works Director Stephen Bise welcomed attendees and described the memorial as “a place that is not only beloved locally but also recognized nationally.” He noted that the Izaak Walton League installed the crosscut to remember Fullerton-area residents who served and sacrificed during the war.

Bise shared a detail that makes the memorial unusually personal. To avoid any appearance of favoritism, or any suggestion that the monument was a commercial commission, the names were not engraved alphabetically. Instead, they were drawn from a hat.

“It’s a simple but meaningful gesture,” Bise said, “one that reflects the belief that each of these men served equally, sacrificed equally, and deserved equal recognition.”

Over the decades, the inscriptions faded, and the monument suffered from deferred maintenance. “But what didn’t fade was the commitment of this community,” Bise said. “Advocates pushed for action, and the city ensured that every step of the restoration met the historic preservation standards required of this nationally recognized site.”

That advocacy was visible at City Hall this year. Hallstrom raised the memorial’s deteriorating condition at an April Parks and Recreation meeting, after which Public Works met with the Hillcrest Park Ad Hoc Committee to assess it. In July, he updated the City Council on the restoration’s progress, noting that decayed portions of the wood had been filled with resin. He also urged a transparent public process for replanting the memorial’s grove of 55 redwoods, one planted for each Fullerton resident who died in the war.

Bise closed with a message to the servicemen’s families. “Your loved ones continue to stand tall in the story of our city,” he said. “And to all gathered today, may this memorial remind us of gratitude, of unity, and of the enduring courage that shaped the generation we honor here.”

He also thanked West Coast Arborists and Street Tree Revival for their work restoring the historic monument.

Councilmember Dr. Shana Charles then introduced Mike Sorrells, a living relative of one of the men named on the memorial. Sorrells, joined by his brother Kevin Sorrells and cousin David Ramos, spoke about his uncle, PFC William D. Sorrells Jr., whose name appears fourth from the bottom of the crosscut.

Born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1925, Bill Sorrells moved to Fullerton with his parents in 1930. He attended local schools, played saxophone in the school band, and was active in Boy Scout Troop 93. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in April 1943, likely still just 17, and shipped out with the 5th Marine Division.

Reading from newspaper accounts and a letter sent to the family after the war, Sorrells described how his uncle landed on Iwo Jima with the first wave. Serving as a machine gunner, Bill was wounded on March 2, 1945, while his company was pinned down between the island’s airfields. He died the next morning at age 19. He was his parents’ only son and brother to five sisters, one of whom was Mike’s mother. Mike’s father also fought on Iwo Jima and survived.

“These men gave up their lives,” Sorrells said, “the life that they were living and the life that they never got to live.”

He thanked the city for honoring the men on the memorial. “May he forever be remembered in our hearts,” he said.