Vets Group Embraces Old Navy Chapel

Bob Cox says he thinks the military officers who contributed to the construction of the chapel at the Naval Hospital in Balboa Park almost 48 years ago would be proud of what it has become today.

Granted, the chapel, which now has no pews, looks a little different than when it was built to meet the spiritual needs of servicemen at the hospital.

But even so, Cox says, the founders would be glad that the actual building looks the same and is still in the military family.

Last month, the chapel became the site of the Veterans Memorial Center, where any of San Diego County’s 265,000 veterans can gather to exchange ideas or hold meetings and social events. About 250 people attended the center’s dedication last month.

“The chapel was built with the idea of helping the active-duty people around the hospital,” said Cox, 74, chairman of the Veterans Memorial Committee and a veteran of World War II and the Korean War.

“The center is now an extension of the original purpose of the chapel. We can provide a meeting place for those veterans who may need help and direction.”

The idea for the center was initiated about three years ago, when the Navy’s lease on the chapel expired, requiring it to be returned to its original owner, the city of San Diego, Cox said.

Initially, the chapel was in danger of being demolished because of its location in Balboa Park. The agreement called for the land to revert to its original state once the lease expired, Cox said. Use of the building was also being sought by other organizations, Cox said.

So a coalition of 33 local military groups, called the San Diego United Veteran’s Council, began its drive to keep the chapel, which the group felt had significant military history, standing.

Under the leadership of former Councilman Ed Struiksma, an ex-Marine, the group persuaded the City Council to save the building and lease it to the organization as a veterans center for $1 a year.

“As a Vietnam veteran I felt that the chapel has a great significance to the people of San Diego and I didn’t want to see it be used as a storage room for a civic group,” Struiksma said. “The best way to retain its heritage was to put it in the hands of the military.”

Although the building will now be used by the veterans for nondenominational services, dinner dances and meetings, the spiritual atmosphere of the 8,000-square-foot chapel is still evident.

Stained-glass windows bearing military insignias and religious symbols shed multicolored light onto a glossy hardwood floor.

A revolving altar that was rotated to serve Jewish, Christian or nondenominational faiths sits at the front of the chapel, while an imposing pipe organ dominates the back. Small confessional booths, parish offices and choir stalls are tucked behind the altar.

Future plans for the chapel include a veterans museum and memorial. Renovations will have to wait, however, until the lease agreement is made official by City Council at the end of this month and the group raises $300,000.

Even so, the the San Diego United Veteran’s Council is eager to move in.

“This place is a stirring monument to the tempo of the times of when it was built,” Cox said. “We feel it is an inspiration and a tribute to all veterans.”