El Soldado Memorial
The California Mexican-American Veterans Memorial, more commonly known as El Soldado Memorial, is a marble war memorial in Sacramento, California, honoring the contributions of California's Mexican-American/Chicano veterans. It is located on the Capitol Mall, directly across from the California State Capitol and besides the Unruh Building.
History
In 1948, a group of Mexican/Chicano mothers formed La Sociedad de Madres Mexicanas with the goal of creating a memorial for their sons and husbands who served and gave their lives in World War II. The group held a series of grassroots fundraisers, including selling tamales, to raise money for the memorial. The monument originally honored only the Chicano/Mexican-American veterans from the Sacramento Valley that served during World War II, but was later expanded to all Californian Chicano/Mexican-American veterans of all wars.The memorial was sculpted in Italy, to a cost of $4,000, and erected at the former Sacramento Mexican-American Center on May 10, 1951. It stood there until 1975, when it was moved to its current location across from the California State Capitol. In 1985, Assembly Member Richard Polanco sponsored legislation that ceded the state grounds to the memorial and authorized its expansion.
In 2016, the monument was restored and its grounds were expanded.
Inscription
The Spanish inscription on the monument reads:The inscription translated into English reads: