The Hillcrest Park Memorial Was Built to Stand Inside a Redwood Grove

"To forget them would be cruel to their spirit."

That line is engraved on an 11-foot slab of black-painted redwood on a hilltop in Hillcrest Park, just north of the Izaak Walton League Cabin. The same words appear on the granite obelisk southwest of the fountain off Harbor Boulevard. Fullerton Emblem Club Number 469 raised $30,000 for that obelisk, which was dedicated on December 7, 1987, and carries 110 names from World War I, World War II, and the Korean and Vietnam Wars. If you've walked both, you've read the epitaph twice in one loop.

On Tuesday, September 29, 2026, the city rededicated the older of the two memorials after a restoration. The slab looks right again. The setting it was designed for has not come back. When the memorial was dedicated in 1948, small redwoods were planted around it, one for each person it honored. All of those trees are gone now, and the rededication came without a date for replacing them.

What Came Back on September 29

The memorial is a crosscut from a redwood about 2,000 years old. It was trucked from Sequoia National Park to Fullerton in June 1946, paid for by members of Fullerton Chapter 15 of the Izaak Walton League of America. It stands on a stepped cement pedestal faced with flagstone, behind a wrought iron fence donated by Kisner Iron Works.

Over the decades the inscriptions faded and maintenance fell behind, Public Works Director Stephen Bise said at the ceremony. He said the city made sure every step of the restoration "met the historic preservation standards required of this nationally recognized site." Decayed wood was filled with resin, and the slab is more structurally sound than it was. Bise thanked West Coast Arborists and Street Tree Revival for the work.

Mayor Fred Jung and Councilmember Dr. Shana Charles joined city staff and about ten community members at the ceremony. Bise also explained something you'd never guess from looking at the slab. The names aren't in alphabetical order. To avoid any appearance of favoritism, or any hint that the monument was a paid commission, the names were drawn from a hat.

So reading the names is a little like reading a lottery result from 1946. Fourth from the bottom is PFC William D. Sorrells Jr. His nephew, Mike Sorrells, spoke at the rededication along with his brother Kevin Sorrells and cousin David Ramos. Bill Sorrells moved to Fullerton with his parents in 1930. He played saxophone in the school band and was active in Boy Scout Troop 93. He joined the Marine Corps in April 1943, probably at 17, and landed on Iwo Jima with the first wave. He was wounded on March 2, 1945, and died the next morning at age 19.

"These men gave up their lives, the life that they were living and the life that they never got to live."

Mike Sorrells, at the September 29 rededication

The Part of the Memorial You Can't See Anymore

The slab was only half of the original design. At the dedication on May 31, 1948, 54 small coast redwoods were planted around the memorial, one for each of the dead. A 55th name was added to the slab later, so today it carries 55 names. That's why some accounts say 54 and others say 55. The tree count and the name count stopped matching once the 55th name went on.

The trees didn't last. Here's how the grove disappeared, using the dates the sources give.

So the memorial you can visit now is a restored slab on an open hilltop. Those who planned it in 1948 meant for you to see it surrounded by young redwoods, one for each name, growing taller every year.

Why Redwoods on a Fullerton Hilltop Are a Hard Assignment

Hallstrom has the most detailed public account of what went wrong, and it's about growing conditions. The 1996 report he cites blamed soil compaction and invasive ivy. He has also said a redwood grove in Southern California needs a level of care the memorial grove wasn't getting.

He also points to a grove nearby that is doing well. OC Parks looks after a 241-tree redwood grove at Carbon Canyon Park. That's more than four times the size of the original memorial planting, managed by another public agency in the same county. In his view, it shows that replanting is realistic if the grove gets the right care after it goes in.

How the Slab Got Fixed Before the Trees

How the restoration happened shows how a replanting decision might come about. The work on the slab started with public comment, not a capital project announcement.

1. April 13, 2026. Speaking as a former commissioner, Hallstrom raised the memorial's condition at a Parks and Recreation Commission meeting. Public Works then met with the Hillcrest Park Ad Hoc Committee to assess it.
2. July 21, 2026. He told the City Council the restoration was nearly done. In the same comments he raised the missing trees and asked for a community meeting before any work on the grove, so the process would be public and transparent.
3. Same period. He flagged that guardrails were missing along the east-side road near the Izaak Walton League Cabin. He told the Fullerton Observer that the city "took action and promptly repaired the guardrails."
4. September 29, 2026. The memorial was rededicated, and Mayor Jung presented Hallstrom with an award for his advocacy.

Every step on the slab has been completed. The grove request is still at step two. The rededication coverage on September 29 announced no schedule for replanting the grove. The Ad Hoc Committee's role so far has been to assess the monument's condition. The Observer's follow-up said it plainly: "The next test is the grove itself."

The Hilltop Has Been Restored Piece by Piece Before

The grove would be the latest in a long run of repairs at this park. Fullerton bought the land in 1920, and Park Superintendent Johann George Seupelt drew up the landscape plan that same year. The city lists 1922 as the year the park opened. The flagstone on the stairs, paths, walls, and benches was laid by hand between 1933 and 1941, using labor paid for by a series of Depression-era relief programs, including the WPA.

The Izaak Walton League Cabin, the landmark you use to find the memorial, has already been through one full recovery. It was built in 1931, and WPA crews added its flagstone porch and stairs in 1938. It burned on December 24, 1990, and was rebuilt in 1996 from the original plans. More recently, the Hillcrest Stairs opened in 2017. They're seven-foot-wide timber steps linking Lions Field to the park. The restoration of the historic fountain and its stonework, along with work on the Great Lawn, the barranca, and the Harbor Boulevard entrance, was finished in May 2018.

A walk that covers the whole story looks like this. Take the Hillcrest Stairs up from Lions Field. Stop at the fountain and the 1987 obelisk off Harbor Boulevard. Pass the Big Bowl, the natural hillside hollow the park has long used for speakers and performances. Then head to the cabin and the restored slab just north of it. The open ground around the slab is where the 1948 trees stood.

What to Watch This Fall

The next step is simple to track. Watch Parks and Recreation Commission and City Council agendas for any item on the Hillcrest Park memorial grove, and especially for the community meeting Hallstrom asked for in July. Our Fullerton neighborhood page collects more on the city's parks and public spaces. Once a meeting is on the calendar, residents will have a public chance to weigh in on whether, where, and how many redwoods go back around the 55 names.

Changes to places like Hillcrest Park shape how a street feels to live on, and they deserve attention if you're weighing a move within Fullerton or nearby. Jacob Klimenko follows these updates closely and can help you think through what they mean for your plans. Book a Free Strategy Session.