Picnic for vets to follow Memorial Day observance

Following the Memorial Day ceremonies, a picnic free to veterans and their families will be held at the Sonoma Valley Memorial Hall building.|

The Sonoma Valley Joint Memorial Day Observance will take place at 11 a.m. Monday, May 29, the 59th time this annual hometown event has taken place. Following the ceremonies, a picnic free to veterans and their families will be held at the Memorial Hall building.

The location of the observances will again be the Sonoma Veterans Memorial Park adjacent to the Sonoma Veterans Memorial Hall building. This year will also be the 12th anniversary of the Star of Honor fountain, now the centerpiece of Sonoma Veterans Memorial Park.

The event is expected to attract up to 1,000 people, and seating is limited. Although pop-up tent canopies will provide shade for many in the audience, not every chair will be under these canopies.

All veterans are invited to wear their military uniforms (or appropriate attire) and participate in the grand march at the opening of the ceremony. Veterans who want to participate in this grand march are requested to muster at 10:30 a.m. beneath the flag of their particular branch of the armed forces in the parking lot.

The guest of honor and keynote speaker is U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Joshua Overn, who graduated from Sonoma Valley High School in 2001. He is an aviator currently stationed at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey.

The ceremony will conclude with an aerial fly-over consisting of various military inspired civilian aircraft flown by the Sonoma Sky Park aviators.

Immediately following the annual Sonoma Valley Joint Memorial Day Observance ceremony, the Rotary Club of Sonoma Valley will host an All-American Picnic, complimentary to veterans and their families and friends, at the Sonoma Veterans Memorial Hall building.

A cooking committee led by local Rotarians Vicki Whiting, Sam Morphy, Ron Lawson, Marck Zuehlsdorff and Gary Edwards will grill approximately 1,000 hamburgers and hotdogs in honor of the memory of the late Howard “Howie” Ehret, a retired U.S. Navy Captain who was a highly energetic community leader, volunteer and Rotarian.

Ehret’s service to the community began during the late 1980s while he was still serving on active duty as the commanding officer of the Naval Communications Station at Skaggs Island. After he moved to the Sonoma Valley, he helped breathe new life into the Sonoma Valley Joint Memorial Day Observance to insure that it continued to remain vibrant. He also served on behalf of the Sonoma Community Center, the Sonoma Valley Chamber of Commerce and many other local groups.

He passed away in 2011, at 70. A stone bench commemorating his memory is located within the Sonoma Veterans Memorial Park Cemetery behind the Star of Honor fountain.

The Rotarians will be greatly assisted during the picnic once again by Ruth Parks Chambers, the Sonoma Valley High School Alumni: Class of 1966, and the Native Daughters of the Golden West.

A Star of Honor pledge drive will take place during the picnic to raise donations needed to maintain and improve the Sonoma Veterans Memorial Park and the Star of Honor fountain. The black granite walls of this fountain are etched with the names of all deceased Sonoma Valley veterans for a period beginning with the American Revolution.

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