He rode a bike through Vietnam to drive the message home that all veterans should be respected.
Then he pedaled from Whittier to Washington, D.C., to amplify his message. Himself a veteran of the Vietnam War, José Ramos championed the creation of “Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day” on March 29 or 30, the last days combat troops withdrew from the Southeast Asian country.
His Whittier hometown will premier a documentary about Ramos at 11:30 a.m. Monday, Nov. 11, at Whittier Community Center Theatre, 7360 Washington Ave., Whittier. Guests are invited to a Veterans Day tribute before the screening, from 10 to 11 a.m. at Whittier City Hall, 13230 Penn St. Admission to both events is free.
The documentary “Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans: The José Ramos Story,” includes discussion about weighty veterans’ issues and is recommended for mature audiences. The city of Whittier produced the movie with the local production company, ASP Film.
“No other city has done something like this, but no other city has had a José Ramos,” said Joe Vinatieri, mayor of Whittier.
Ramos served as a combat medic with the 101st Airborne Division and earned a Purple Heart. In 1998, weary of the ridicule and scorn heaped on Vietnam veterans, Ramos completed the 16-day, 1,250-mile bike ride across Vietnam. He followed that up with the Whittier to Washington, D.C. bike journey in 2004, championing the creation of “Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day.”
After serving in the Army, Ramos worked at Los Angeles County USC Medical Center and Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital, retiring in 1999.
Ramos died on Sept. 3, 2017, six months after then-President Donald Trump signed the Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act designating March 29 as National Vietnam War Veterans Day. Ramos was 68.
The city-produced documentary is the latest tribute to a favorite son. A permanent exhibit on his life opened at the Whittier Museum in 2019 and includes the bike Ramos rode to Washington, according to Nicholas Edmeier, manager of the Whittier Museum.
In 2022, the city commissioned a memorial art piece dedicated to Ramos at Central Park. That same year, Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Norwalk, Vinatieri and Ramos’ family helped dedicate a local post office renamed in his honor.
Vinatieri said the documentary, and ceremony for all veterans at City Hall, recalls a promise he made to Ramos two days before he died.
“I told him Whittier would not forget him and what he did, and (that) he has done something special for all Vietnam veterans,” Vinatieri said.
For more information, call 562-567-9470.
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