STOCKTON, Calif. — In a unanimous vote at their Tuesday meeting, Stockton city council members moved to honor the life and legacy of a local fallen hero by renaming a cul-de-sac after U.S. Navy Hospitalman Christopher Gnem.
Gnem, known by family and friends as Bobby, was one of nine service members killed when an amphibious assault vehicle sank off the coast of San Diego during a training exercise in July of 2020.
Peter Vienna remembers late evenings spent parked on Stockton’s Brookview Court waiting to pick up his stepson Bobby from the basketball courts at neighboring Nelson Park.
“We would have to drive over there to pick him up to get him to come to dinner sometimes,” Vienna said jokingly while also fighting tears. “He played all through his teens on that court; he was there every day religiously.”
When imagining the park and the cul-de-sac parking strip to its west side, Vienna also recalls the more recent melancholic memories spent there, holding candles and hands, mourning the loss of Gnem and remembering his life
"It was a special place to him so it became a special place to us. We've had several of his ceremonies, candlelight vigils (at the park). We did a nine-mile walk on his birthday that started and ended there," Vienna said. "There have been times when my wife was having a particularly hard day and she would go there and sit on the basketball court."
Now, when his family members park their cars on Brookview Court, a permanent sign feet away will bear the name of the loved one who brought the family together at the 12-acre park in Stockton's Brookside neighborhood.
“It's been two years and it still hits home so that was a special night last night, ” Vienna said. "We're very happy that that happened.”
After Tuesday's vote, Brookview Court will now be called "FMF Doc Gnem Court," a name that includes Gnem's abbreviated U.S. Navy title of Fleet Marine Forces (FMF) and his designation as a Hospital Corpsman, known as a "Doc."
Appreciative of the city's vote, Vienna says his work continues in order to honor and remember the legacy left behind by Gnem.
The most significant work for Vienna so far has been advocacy. From testifying in front of Congress and 60 Minutes to closed-door meetings with military officials and other "gold-star" families, Vienna says he hopes to bring about change so that no more families have to share in his heartbreak and grief.
"My wife was suicidal, I couldn't work and what happens to a family in a situation like this is more devastating than people know," Vienna said. "When it comes to the military, there's just nothing. There is no justice. There's nothing you can do about it. It is what it is-- and so we've been fighting."
Back at home, work on honoring Gnem's life has also included painstaking memorial event planning and the creation of a scholarship at his alma mater, Lincoln High School. The scholarship is currently in its fundraising stage.
"The idea that his legacy and who he was will be studied by students and they'll be writing essays as to why they deserve this scholarship-- Well, I can't think of a better way to continue his legacy and honor him," Vienna said. "I think in the future being that (the park) was a place that he held so dear and spent so much time on, that we've now got his name on, I think pretty much all the events would probably be there."
Whether during an event or a causal outing at Nelson Park, soon Vienna will be one of the hundreds of people every day who will see Gnem's name on the green sign in the cul-de-sac parking area, a move that will ensure Gnem's name and legacy won't be forgotten.
"They say that every person suffers two deaths, your actual death, and then when you're forgotten, and nobody speaks in your name anymore," Vienna said. "This is a way to keep him alive as much as possible for us."
The name of the cul-de-sac is expected to be changed by mid-October and the raising of an official street sign on FMF Doc Gnem Court will follow.
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