Retired Army veteran Jim Cragg was honored Friday as Citizen of the Year at Los Angeles City Hall for his commitment to help his neighbors recover from the Palisades Fire.
Cragg, the commander of the American Legion Post 283, one of the only buildings spared by the fire, now serves as a wildfire recovery center.
“Counselors, clergy, just veterans who are here to hold their hand,” said Cragg, in reference to the services offered at the post. “It’s my job to inspire, to show people they can do this and that have people like us here to help them.”
Although people are beginning to rebuild in the Palisades, there is still a lot of work to be done, according to Cragg.
“It’s a pressure for us to get the 10,460 families that we’re working with that forward motion and we need them to be able to see that at that one-year mark, we’ve moved forward,” said Cragg during the ceremony. “Our city is coming back and there’s inspiration behind this that we want to share with them.”
Cragg could not have imagined that he would once again be called to action, but it happened the night he watched homes and buildings destroyed in the Palisades Fire.
“I was fortunate to learn a set of skills in 30 years of deploying around the world into austere environments, and God knows I really wish I didn’t have to bring that to my home,” said Cragg. “We’re going to help everybody that we can to rebuild, to reconnect with those memories and to build new ones moving forward.”
Source: NBC Los Angeles