Camp Hamilton Veterans Memorial Park

Don Taylor, our resident bagpiper, tells this story of SSgt Fidel Hernandez, a Marine who served in World War II. Glenn Denton then adds to the story. During World War II, the military listed Fidel's brother as missing in action. With his father's blessing, Fidel joined the Marine Corps find his brother in the Pacific Theater. While on the Island of Pavuvu in the Solomon Islands, Fidel noticed a bush growing with small peppers on them. Knowing Marine Corps rations, Fidel picked a few peppers and put them in his pocket. Three good things happened from Fidel's deployment: 1) Fidel came home with no injuries, 2) his brother was found in an Oakland Naval Hospital in California, and 3) decades after he came home, Fidel found those pepper seeds and planted them at his home in San Diego. Fidel's daughter attended San Diego State University. No one had ever seen a Pavuvu bush, so she took it to the biology department who created a classification using Fidel Hernandez's name.