Norcross Police Officer Andrei Tataru, who served in the United States Army before joining the department and its crime suppression unit, spoke about the military’s impact on his life at the city’s Nov. 11 Veterans Day Ceremony.
Norcross held its annual ceremony at Veterans Park on the corner of South Peachtree Street and N. Norcross Tucker Road, honoring former U.S. military members and their families.
Tataru, who immigrated to the U.S. from Romania at age 17, said he learned “honor, respect, [and] duty” in the military.
“It’s like the tree that kept on giving,” he said. “It started my new life. I became a man in the military.”
Veterans’ American dream
Tataru said he met his wife while serving during the Global War on Terror. They have one child and have been married nearly 20 years.
“I was also able to go to school and work on my degree, which they paid for,” he said. “I also made many great friends, which I still keep in contact with today because we went through trials and tribulations that created bonds that you’ll have forever.”
Tataru said he bought his first home with help from a Department of Veterans Affairs loan and built equity to support his family.
“I would say that the military encompasses everything for me and my family,” he said. “In addition to that, it encompasses what the United States means to everybody else … it offers people from other countries opportunities that they wouldn’t have had.”
Tataru said he “couldn’t turn down the opportunity” to recognize those who came before him on Veterans Day.
WWI in Norcross
Mayor Craig Newton, who introduced Tataru, shared the origins of Veterans Day. The federal holiday began in 1938 as Armistice Day, recognizing the end of World War I “on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.”
“Please remember those who have served, those who are serving today, and the families who stand beside them,” Newton said.
In 1917, the U.S. Army turned about 230 acres just south of downtown Norcross into the Camp Gordon Rifle Range. A plaque at Veterans Park commemorates the local history and the WWI rifle range, which sat along North Norcross Tucker Road.
The 82nd “All-American” Division trained in Norcross before deploying to France, and the site served as a training camp for infantry replacements.
After the end of the First World War on Nov. 11, 1918, the Norcross Rifle Range remained operational until 1920, when units were transferred in anticipation of Camp Gordon’s closure.
In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a law replacing “Armistice” with “Veterans,” after a push to honor all American service members.
