Find out how you can help honor local heroes on this Veterans Day
“el soldado latino” courtesy of ElSoldado.org
Sacramento (Nov. 09, 2022) - This Veterans Day Sacramento residents have an opportunity to help honor veterans in a unique way that has not been possible for more than half a century.
For the first time in more than 50 years, a Sacramento area-based group of soldiers will be honored during the Veterans Day parade. This year the Veterans Affiliated Council and anyone who comes out to support the troops marching will be welcoming back the 319th Signal Battalion from deployment.
The 319th, led by Colonel Stephanie Lee, is a communications unit of the U.S. Army that has been stationed in South West Asia for just over one year. The South West Asian Command has a big coverage area and includes portions of the Middle East, including countries like Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. All 50 members of Charlie company in the 319th being welcomed home are Sacramento natives.
This year’s Veterans Day Parade will start at 11:00 A.M. with a moment of silence in memory of those lost defending the United States. The parade route begins in Crocker Park and will finish in the roundabout in between 9th and 10th streets on Capitol Mall. Beginning around 1:00 P.M., or 1300 hours, the ceremonies will begin at El Soldado Latino, a statue that honors all fallen American Latinos in wars and conflicts to protect America.
Surrounding the staging area for the ceremonies there will be a resource fair for families and veterans. There will be food trucks, a low rider car show, counseling and mental health services and information for veterans and families of veterans. Sacramento area Boy Scouts and JROTC members will also be on the west steps of the Capitol to participate in the ceremonies.
Brigadier General Jefferey Smiley, image courtesy of Department of Defense
Brigadier General Jeff Smiley will deliver the keynote address for this year’s observance. General Smiley was wounded in combat while serving as the second-highest-ranking officer in Afghanistan. It is extremely rare for officers at or near General Smiley’s rank to be injured in combat, according to Commander William Franco from the Veterans Affiliated Council.
The ceremonies will also include honoring WW2 Veteran Joe Ortiz, who will be 100 years old in November, recognizing him for his service. Ortiz served beginning in 1943 in the South Pacific until 1945 and then continued to serve in the National Guard for 13 years. Later, when he found his son was being deployed to Vietnam, he asked for a change in orders to serve in supply management in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam from 1972 to 1974. Ortiz retired from the armed services in 1978. Since the 1970’s, Ortiz has also been an active entrepreneur in the greater Sacramento area and has worked for the City of Sacramento in caretaking for the Sacramento Historical Cemetery.
