They’re Both Coming Home!
Join us Sunday, November 7th
as San Francisco celebrates Veterans Day.
The Ohlone Tribe returns to San Francisco to join the Veterans for Peace Contingent in the Veterans Day Parade.
The Parade staging area: on Howard St. near 3rd St at 10:30am.
The Parade starts: 11:00am and ends at Civic Center around 1:00pm.
After the parade everyone is requested to join us for ceremony at 1:30pm at the Memorial Grove, the grassy area between the Opera House and the Veterans Bldg. This year, Chief Tony Cerda presents the Congress of American Indians’ “Warriors Medal of Valor” to the American Legion Posts in San Francisco from the Ohlone Nation.
A wreath in the shape of that medal will be placed on the octagon and a ceremony of dance, songs and prayers will bring us together. The Veterans and the Ohlone are returning home to a sacred site.
San Francisco is an Ohlone place of origin and the Memorial Grove is the site where soil from the Battlefields of World Wars I, II and Vietnam are buried. This is the first year of a four-year ceremony to celebrate their homecoming. We hope the Kiowa Gourd Clan will join us with their prayers and ceremony for the Warriors.
The SF Arts Commission has chosen an artist to design a memorial for the site with a ribbon cutting ceremony planned for 2013. We are supporting the Ohlone tribe to return for the next 4 years to conduct this ceremony for the Veterans. Joining us will be the Family of Reuben Paul Santos, for their 1st year memorial ceremony as they cope with his loss, after he took his life six years after returning from Iraq.
The Cherokee Society of the Greater Bay Area and the Black Native Americans Association will provide a Pot Luck food sharing after the ceremony in the Veterans Building Rm 223 on the 2nd floor north side of the Building.
CONTACT: 415-335-5257
POST UPDATE: Photos from the Event, by Catherine Herrera from her Galleries. Read her report, also.
Photos by Catherine Herrera - http://catherineherrera.photoshelter.com/gallery-list