‘I’m here for a purpose’: Tino Adame Road and Richard A. Pittman Drive unveiled at VA clinic
Angelaydet Rocha
- Two streets near the Richard A. Pittman VA Clinic in French Camp have been named after veterans Tino Adame and Richard A. Pittman.
- Adame, a Vietnam War veteran and local advocate for veterans' health care, was also named Stocktonian of the Year.
- The clinic, which opened in 2022, serves veterans in San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Calaveras and Tuolumne counties.
Proud veterans filled a parking lot Monday afternoon near the Richard A. Pittman VA Clinic in French Camp to celebrate the unveiling of two street signs named after notable local veterans.
Tino Adame Road and Richard A. Pittman Drive were unveiled as new street names during the ceremony.
"I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for this Tino Adame Road," said Tino Adame, a U.S. Marine Corps Veteran and Vietnam Purple Heart Recipient. "We will continue advocating. (To) the younger generation, we need your help. We need your help to start advocating."
The street sign unveiling wasn't the only celebration that Adame had that day. He turned 78 years old, too.
"Tino's story is one of dedication and passion. Tino began advocating for better health care facilities for veterans right here in the San Joaquin Valley," said Nora Lynn B. Dwinell, associate director of the East Bay Division for the VA Northern California Health Care System. "His tireless efforts and unyielding commitment eventually led to the creation of the Richard A. Pittman VA Clinic, a lasting testament to his dedication to our community's veterans."
Those in attendance sang "Happy Birthday" to Adame just before he and Gina Pittman, daughter of Richard A. Pittman, unveiled the street signs.
"It seems only fitting that on this milestone, we celebrate the unveiling of the Tino Adame Road, a tribute to his legacy and the countless lives he has impacted," Dwinell said.
Adame named 2024 Stocktonian of the Year
Adame was also surprised by the Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce as the 2024 Stocktonian of the Year during the ceremony. He is the 71st recipient.
"Tino was instrumental in getting all of this done. He and my dad went all the way to Washington, D.C. to try and get people to support this. San Joaquin County long needed a veterans clinic that could serve it, and we have 20 years of combat vets that need help in a wide variety of ways," Gina Pittman told The Record. "The fact that they can stay here and get help here is nothing short of amazing. Tino earned that, every bit of it."
Stockton City Councilman Michael Blower and San Joaquin County Supervisor Paul Canepa also presented Adame with certificates of recognition for his work with veterans in the community and for the naming of the street after him.
Veterans from Oakmont of Brookside nursing home in Stockton were also present at the ceremony.
"Richard Pittman was the type of person ... he made everyone (feel) very special. The Richard Pittman Drive, if you see there's no entrance, no exit. Richard Pittman will receive all those veterans to have a great service here," Adame told the crowd.
Thomas Jefferson Fitzgerald III, a U.S. Army veteran and former medical center director for the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, told The Stockton Record that securing the VA clinic took two decades of work. He and Adame began their efforts to bring the clinic to San Joaquin County in 2003.
"We had a lot of hurdles that we had to overcome in regards to budget, getting this approved. Through the president's budget, we went through five presidents waiting to get this done, and about four or five secretary of veteran affairs also," Fitzgerald said. "The city, the county, and Tino and the rest of the veterans here, they never wavered. They always supported us to make this a reality, and that's why we're here where we are at today."
On Feb. 23, 2022, then-congressman and current Sen. Jerry McNerney and Rep. Josh Harder introduced HR6722, a bill proposing to name the Department of Veteran Affairs community-based outpatient clinic in French Camp the "Richard A. Pittman VA Clinic," The Stockton Record previously reported.
“Not only will this clinic enable veterans to receive care closer to home, it will also honor an American hero in his hometown,” McNerney said previously. “Master Sgt. Pittman was the embodiment of bravery and service, and he will forever be memorialized by this facility.”
The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs' outpatient medical center offers services to veterans living in San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Calaveras and Tuolumne counties.
According to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs website, before the French Camp clinic opened, the closest VA clinics were located in Modesto and Palo Alto.
"Tino would advocate. He would call me, he would come see me, he would meet with me, and he would put a lot of pressure on us in regards to making sure we got this building and this facility done," Fitzgerald said. "One day, I was sitting in my office and I had an epiphany. I said, 'You know what? This guy deserves to have something named after him at this facility.'"
'I'm here for a purpose'
Mary Hope Adame, Tino's wife of 54 years and a retired MSN nurse, was by her husband's side as he was honored and recognized on Monday.
"I'm really honored, but I just do the things that the Lord put me here to do it. I came back from Vietnam," Adame told The Stockton Record when asked how he felt about having a street named after him. "I'm here for a purpose, and I just do what I have to do."
He was born Faustino "Tino" Adame Jr. on Jan. 27, 1947 in French Camp. Adame and Pittman were born in French Camp just next door at the San Joaquin County General Hospital.
The Stockton native enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps at the age of 19 years old. He was sent to Vietnam where he was wounded when his unit came under heavy fire during an ambush. He later received a Purple Heart, a VA informational packet stated.
"I walked into an ambush in 1966 so I spent a year, nine months, (and) 14 days at the Marine Corps," Adame said.
According to the packet, Adame completed his service in 1967 and returned home to work at the Tracy Defense Depot. He worked there for 35 years before retiring in 1999. Just a year before that, Adame became the first Latino commander of the American Legion Karl Ross Post 16.
"It was a war that was different. I felt that I fought for our country, but when we got home, a lot of demonstrations, we couldn't even wear our uniforms when we came back home," Adame said. "But now we're here and we support our veterans."
Adame said that when he filed for disability after being wounded and having a hole in his ankle, he was denied. After four years, and with the help of others, he was able to get back up and walk. That's when he felt that he needed to start helping other veterans and starting advocating, he said.
Adame's advocacy influenced the Stockton Unified School District to name Pittman Charter School after Richard A. Pittman, who received a Medal of Honor and worked to bring the VA clinic to the area for more than two decades.
"Please make no mistake, the four of us girls are very well aware that none of this would be happening without Tino Adame. He was instrumental in bringing this clinic here. He was instrumental in having a school named for our dad, and he very much deserves this sign," Gina Pittman said during the ceremony. "The very fact that Tino Adame and my dad will have streets that bring veterans in to find healing in whatever form they can is a testament to both our father and Tino's strength, and (their) courage and leadership. You have our undying gratitude, our undying love, and our undying respect."
Henry Adame, a U.S. Marine veteran, former chaplain of the American Legion Karl Ross Post 16, and brother of Tino Adame said that when their father died at the age of 66 years, Tino stepped up. He said his brother never left their mother's side until she died six years ago.
"He made sure that our mother had everything provided that she may continue living in the comfort of her own home. He took care of her very well," Henry Adame said. "He took her to the mall, he took her for groceries, and every Sunday, he picked her up to take her to St. Mary's Church for mass. He never left her alone until she passed in 2018 at the age of 93."
Tino told the crowd that growing up his mother always told him, "You see something that has to be done, do it."
David R. Stockwell, medical center director for VA Northern California Health Care System, said that the unveiling honored "two individuals who not only served our country, but also dedicated their lives to making a difference for fellow veterans."
"Richard A. Pittman, whose devotion to his country and his community is an enduring inspiration, and Tino Adame, whose leadership and advocacy have helped transform the lives of so many veterans," Stockwell said. "You are privileged to have this opportunity to celebrate them and the endurance during legacies they leave behind."
Adame added that the clinic has the potential to become a hospital, but it may not be during his time.
Richard A. Pittman's legacy
Born on May 26, 1945, Pittman enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1965 at the age of 20 years old.
He grew up in Stockton and attended Hazelton Elementary School, Fremont Junior High School, and graduated from Franklin High School in June 1964. Pittman attempted to join the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy after graduation, but due to being legally blind in one eye, he was turned down by both of them.
In 1965, he enlisted in the Marines. A year later, he joined Company I, Battalion Landing Team 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division and served as a rifleman with the unit.
On July 24, 1966, Pittman was on a trail in Vietnam when men ahead of his unit came under fire. Instead of fleeing from the attack, Pittman leaped into action to save them. President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded Pittman, who was a sergeant at the time, with the Medal of Honor on May 14, 1968.
He is Stockton's only Medal of Honor recipient.
Gina Pittman said her dad was a "Marines' Marine, he loved it."
"Nothing was more important to him than his troops. To know that forever veterans can come here seeking shelter is nothing short of amazing," Gina Pittman said. "We're so blessed and very grateful."
Gina Pittman said that her father died in 2016. While he had no idea the building would be named after him, she said he would have been honored and grateful.
She urges veterans who are not registered at the new VA clinic to register for "the benefits that they earned."
"They need these benefits. They earned them. They deserve them," she said. "Please, even if they just are passing by, come in, register, get the help you need."
Stockton native Sarom Teiv was just 17 years old when she enlisted in the U.S. Army. She was the first in her family and served for 21 years — the same time it took to get the VA clinic, she said. She is an American Legion Karl Ross Post 16 member.
"Normally, when you have a road or something named after you, it's posthumous. For Tino to be able to witness this day is such a blessing, and it's well-deserved because of all the work that he's done since before I joined the Army," Teiv said. "He's 78 years old and he's still doing it, so now it's time for him to pass the torch. We're ready. We're behind him to take over and do what we have to do to advocate for veteran services here in San Joaquin County, and try to make San Joaquin County the best county that serves veterans in the whole California. That's the goal."
Adame said that there are many women veterans who are just starting to share that they are veterans. He said they need to be supported.
"Richard, he told me, 'Tino when we die, we die as Marines ... Continue doing the work until you can't,'" Adame said.
Record reporter Angelaydet Rocha covers community news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at arocha@recordnet.com or on Twitter @AngelaydetRocha. To support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.