TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

Ned Permenter drops to one knee to pull at the weeds sprouting from the base of the flagpole.

The legendary high school football coach and Bob Elias Hall of Fame honoree seems embarrassed by the weeds. After all, the name "Permenter" is imprinted into the surface of a weathered brass plate attached to the concrete base of the flagpole.

But it's not Ned who is remembered there. It's his cousin, Ray Permenter, a graduate of East Bakersfield High School who went on to become a waist gunner in the tin-can fuselage of a World War II bomber.

On July 8, 1944, at age 19, Staff Sgt. Raymond Permenter was killed in action when the B-24 Liberator he was flying in was shot down over the war fields of Europe. Four years later, Permenter Field at East High was named for the hero who never came home.

Unfortunately, since the late-1990s when lights were installed and a large monument was erected identifying the East High gridiron as "Permenter Field," countless local football fans have come to believe that the field was named after Coach Permenter. It's an understandable mistake, given the fact that Ned's name became synonymous with local high school football during his 40-year career as a coach at Foothill High.

Now Permenter intends to right what he sees as a great wrong.

"I did not want to go to my grave having people think they named Permenter Field after me," he said. "Not after everything that Ray sacrificed."

So at the age of 71, the retired coach has made it his mission late in life to educate the students at EB, the people of Bakersfield and even himself about the short but honorable life of Ray Permenter, namesake of a football field.

An outstanding athlete at East High, Ray was the first Blade to earn 12 athletic letters, four each in football, baseball and basketball. Like so many other young men of his generation, Ray enlisted in the armed forces upon graduation from EB in 1943.

"Thirty-seven senior boys from his class enlisted in the service prior to graduation that year," Permenter said. "I think it's important that today's young people know about that."

To that end, Permenter has spent the better part of the past year researching Ray's life and military record. He has copies of all of his cousin's medals and military insignia. And like a detective, Permenter has followed hundreds of pages of documents and even traveled to Missouri to interview one of Ray's fellow crewmen who was sick that day in 1944 and therefore not on that final flight.

Permenter even found written eyewitness accounts from two crewmen in other bombers who saw Ray's B-24 fall from the sky.

"I saw the ship ... hit by a burst of flak in the No. 4 engine causing immediate burst of flame and the right wing dipped and the ship started losing altitude very rapidly," wrote Staff Sgt. William T. Eggers.

"I lost sight of it at approximately 17,000 feet," Eggers continued. "I saw no parachutes."

Ned's wife, Virginia, said it feels like her husband has packed five years of research into his one-year crusade.

"I'm very proud of him," she said. "It's overwhelming what those kids went through at such a young age."

But she also lovingly needles Ned about his organizational skills, calling the plastic grocery bag he keeps packed with reams of research his "Permenter briefcase."

Not surprisingly, hundreds and maybe thousands of Bakersfield area residents played football or were otherwise influenced by Coach Permenter during his four decades of service. EB Principal Lee Vasquez and Athletic Director Ted Armijo both played on teams coached by the legendary Permenter.

So did Kevin Keyes, now a prevention specialist with the Kern County Superintendent of Schools' Project 180.

"Coach Permenter wasn't just a football coach, he was a mentor," Keyes said. "I think this project is going to be an incredible civics lesson for students, to show them what those who came before had to endure."

Eventually, Ned plans to create a 4-foot by 6-foot shadow box that will be installed in the career center at East High. It will include photos of Ray as a student and as a serviceman, a photo of Permenter Field, Ray's medals and insignia and other information tying him to the school, the community and especially the football field that bears his name.

"Ray gave his life for his country," Ned Permenter said. "It's important that people know Permenter Field is named for him."