Above General John J. Pershing decorating 2nd Lt. Louis Cukela (Vjekoslav Lujo Cukela), who was awarded both the Navy and Army Medals of Honor for extraordinary heroism in France 1918 during World War I. He was the only living man to hold two such decorations for extreme bravery in a single war.

Cukela was born on May 1, 1888 in Split, Croatia, son of George (Đuro) from the village of Koljane (near Vrlika) and mother Johana (Ivanica Bubrić).

In 1913 Cukela emigratted to the United States and he and his brother setttled in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

On September 21, 1914 he enlisted in the U.S. Army and later in 1917 he enlisted in the Marine Corps. With war raging in Europe, he went to France and took part in all the engagements in which the Fifth marines fought.

In addition to the two Medals of Honor, Cukela was awarded the Silver Star by the Army; the Medaille Militaire (he was the first Marine officer ever to receive this medal), the Legion d'Honneur, the Croix de Guerre with two palms, another Croix with Silver Star by France and several other medals by Italy and U.S.A. In 1940 he was promoted to the rank of Major.

Major Cukela died in 1956 and he was buried with military honors in Arlington Cemetery in March 22, 1956.

Above The warship U.S.S. ARIZONA which the Japanese planes sank in December 1941 at Pearl Harbur (Hawaii) with entire crew of 1177 sailors and marines. Among them were also 9 Croatians: S. Marinich, J. Borovich, W. Ratkovich, Charles and Joseph Starkovich Jr., J. Claudius, Bušić, P. Hazdovac and Beg.

In 1916 one of the largest funerals that occured in the Los Angeles Croatian community was for John Barkigia, the 13 year old son of Kata Barkigia (Born Bogišić) from the village of Dubravica, near Dubrovnik.

She was extremely active in Croatian affairs and a member of most organizations.

The Main Street in Sutter Creek, Amador County, California, also called the Golden Heart of the Mother Lode. It was named after John A. Sutter, the first white man to come to the area in 1846. He was the first to mine localy, but few others later managed to make success of it and made millions.

The epochal event was the discovery of gold at Sutter's mill on the American River in January 1848. In the stampede of people from all over America and the world there were many Croatians.

On the top of the hill on the photo we can see a nice house. This was the first Croatian Home in the USA, built in 1874. It was built by Slavonic Society organized in San Francisco in 1857.