What:

A dedication plaque will be unveiled dedicating the Poway Post Office in honor of Raymond Chavez because of Public Law 116-230 signed by former President Trump and enacted December 2020.

Who:

Honorable Scott Peters, Member of Congress
Eric Gilbert, U.S. Postal Service San Diego District Manager
Jocelyn Whitney, Postmaster of Poway
Steve Vaus, Mayor of Poway
Kathleen Chavez (sister) and Chavez family

When:

Thursday, August 19, 2021
9:00 a.m.

Where:

Poway Post Office
13308 Midland Road
Poway CA 92064

Background:

In May 2019 legislation to designate this post office to Raymond Chavez was introduced by Congressman Scott Peters (CA-52). It was approved and signed into law by President Trump on December 21, 2020.

Raymond Chavez was born in San Bernardino, California on March 10th, 1912.
Soon after his family moved to San Diego.  Raymond was unable to finish high school because he had to go to work to help support his family. He worked as a gardener.

He joined the Naval Reserve in 1937 and was called up for active duty in 11939. He was stationed in San Diego and assigned to a minesweeper. Mine sweepers were fishing boats of the Navy, painted gray and converted with minesweeping equipment. There were 4 boars and they were all sent to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. His duty was sweeping the harbor for enemy mines.

On December 7, 1941 at 3:45 am he and his crew spotted a periscope in restricted waters. This was one of the 5 Japanese mini-subs which were trying to sneak into the harbor to plant bombs on the big ships. The minesweeper boats were not equipped with defensive weapons. They radioed the USS Ward to come and drop depth charges.

After his shift ended at 6:00 am, he went home to sleep because he had been up all night. His wife was outside and noticed an airplane flying very low over the houses, realized it was a foreign plane and ran inside the house shouting we’re being attack. When Ray ran outside to see what she was talking about and saw the harbor on fire and black smoke billowing up, he immediately returned to his ship and his job.

After the attack when things went back to “normal” he requested to be assigned to another ship. He was then assigned to the USS La Sala, a troop transport ship and participated in 8 battle campaigns until the end of the war in 1945.

After the war he received an Honorable Discharge and returned to San Diego to be with family and continued to be a gardener/landscaper.

The Postal Service generally receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products, and services to fund its operations.

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