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Several students at San Ramon Valley High School donned “Some gave all, all gave some” t-shirts on Friday during a lunchtime fundraiser to benefit fallen soldiers. Along with parent representatives of the class of 2010, the students sold shirts and sweatshirts to raise money for the Semper Fi Foundation and Danville fallen soldier memorial.
Set up by the Corral family on behalf of Lance Cpl. Joshua “Chachi” Corral, a SRVHS grad who was killed in Afghanistan on Nov. 18, 2011, the foundation’s mission is to support and assist severely wounded Marines. Additionally, the group is hoping to raise $10,000 for a memorial statue at the new Veterans Memorial building.
The 5-foot 6-inch sculpture would sit on a granite base in a landscape planter area on the northeast corner of the building. A “battlefield cross,” the memorial would feature boots, a rifle and a helmet with two plaques — one which describes the genesis of the battlefield cross and one dedicating the memorial to Chachi.
While information on the amount of money raised was not immediately available, town of Danville documents state that the memorial would ideally be dedicated on March 7, 2012. To help meet that goal, 2010 grads sold sweatshirts during the San Ramon-Livermore Varsity basketball game and made a special presentation to the Corral family during halftime.
“During the memorial tributes back in November, when most of our kids from the class of 2010 were home … I had a few who expressed an interest in wanting to have some sort of a tribute to Chachi here at our school,” Alyson Colton, lead parent adviser for the class of 2010, said during the halftime tribute. “Jillian Rovner, who is at school in Arizona, contacted me with the idea of somehow incorporating Chachi’s role as a ‘6th Man’ into our tribute.”
Chachi was a prominent member of the 6th Man Club, a student spirit group supporting the Wolves’ basketball team, and the Corral family was presented with an honorary SRVHS jersey during the game.
“He inspired not only those players, but the coaches to work harder, for our program to get better. He was the epitome of what the 6th man should be…what a young man his age should be, in terms of his community. And that’s why we miss him so much,” said Brian Botteem, San Ramon’s junior varsity coach and teacher.
“Chachi was one of those kids who you would see participating in everything…. He loved school spirit and was always the life of everything. Especially before the football games at our tailgates and then 6th Man of course,” Colton continued. “His dedication to his friends, the school and his community was recognized and cherished by everyone. He will forever be our class of 2010 6th Man.”
Several memorial services were held for Corral after his death in November and a permanent memorial has been in the works since January. The Veterans Memorial Building Board of Trustees unanimously approved the memorial proposal last month and submitted plans to the town, which will be reviewed at a study session on Feb. 14. Nat Rojanasathira, assistant to the town manager, said the memorial plans will not need to be approved by the town council.
Additional funds raised by t-shirt sales and donations will allow the foundation to adopt the Third Battalion Seventh Marines (the unit Chachi served in), support deployed military members and gold star families as well as fulfill special needs requests for veterans and their families.
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A “battlefield cross.” -
Lance Cpl. Joshua “Chachi” Corral, a SRVHS grad, was killed in Afghanistan on Nov. 18, 2011. -
Students and parent representatives sold “Some gave all, all gave some” t-shirts at SRVHS on Friday afternoon. Photo by Jessica Lipsky. -
The class of 2010 presented the Corral family with an honorary 6th Man jersey. Photo by Jessica Lipsky. -
Alyson Colton with members of the Corral family. Photo courtesy of Alyson Colton.
