Cooper Toshiyuki Tahara was born on November 8, 1919, in Florin, California and served in the US Army from October 20, 1941, until November 5, 1944, when he was killed in battle in France while serving with the segregated Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team. At the time, the Tahara family was incarcerated at the Relocation Camp in Jerome, Arkansas. They were not released until April 1945, five months after his death.

Since its inception, the Linda Mae Mahon Lema Foundation has researched and developed a local area Veteran's Story for presentation on Memorial Day each year. In 2016 we presented the story of Peter Glann. In this audio cast, we present further details of his service and an expanded background of the Civil War events in which he was involved.

Since its beginning, the Linda Mae Mahon Lema Foundation has researched and developed a local Veteran's Story to share with the community on Memorial Day each year. In 2023, however, we deviate from our usual practice of honoring an individual veteran, by honoring the twelve veterans of Elk Grove High School who were lost in service during the Vietnam War Era.

Across the country, high schoolers of the 1960s were faced with the reality of military service driven by the war in Vietnam - Elk Grove was not immune. Hundreds served; others made the hard choice of resisting service; still, others were deemed exempt from service. Of those who served, scores were wounded or suffered mental and emotional trauma by their service, and twelve from Elk Grove High School were killed in service during the Vietnam War Era.

Since its inception, the Linda Mae Mahon Lema Foundation has researched and developed a local area Veteran's Story for presentation on Memorial Day each year. For 2022, we honor Charles R. Chalmers, who graduated from Elk Grove High School in 1944 and was killed in 1945 during World War II.

Within a month of graduating high school, Charlie was drafted and inducted into the U.S. Army. For Charlie, in just a matter of a couple weeks, he was transitioned from a bucolic life in Elk Grove to the very real settings of war and its harsh realities. In June 1945, Charlie was killed in battle in the Philippines. In that one year after high school, Charlie traversed the country and was sent halfway around the world, to be thrust into a conflict which took his life. He now rests but four miles along Elk Grove Blvd. to the still-operating Chalmers ranch where he grew up.

Our mission of the Foundation is to research, document, record and preserve, present and publish the personal stories and family histories of the greater area of Elk Grove. But why is this undertaking important? We asked several people around Elk Grove to give us their opinions on the question. Here are some of their responses.

In 2019 the Foundation had a conversation with Steve Ly where he shared with us the story of his Hmong family fleeing from Laos shortly after the U.S. pullout from Vietnam. Escape was imperative for the family because his of father's military service supporting the U.S. presence in Southeast Asia before, and during, the Vietnam War.

In January 2019, the Linda Mae Mahon Lema Foundation chatted with Tom Mackey as he discussed the history of the Mackey family.

In May 2019, the Linda Mae Mahon Lema Foundation chatted with Mary Jane McCombs as she discussed the history of the McCombs family.

In February 2017, the LMML Foundation interviewed Oscar Mix, a native of Elk Grove. During our discussion, he told of his family's immigration from Europe, of their deeds in early America, and across the country to California. Mr. Mix shared a great number of unique and compelling stories about his family and about the Elk Grove area from 1900 to today.

One day around the dining room table. Tom Mahon, Linda's younger brother, discusses their pioneer roots.

In 2019 the Foundation had a conversation with Thuy Nguyen who was born in Vietnam just before the U.S pullout. Thuy lived under the Communist regime until her late 20s when she married a U.S. citizen and oil engineer doing business with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. This is the story of her family during and after the Vietnam War and of her struggles to adapt in the United States.