Road closures today during Petaluma Veterans Day parade

Petaluma’s streets and skies will be bustling Nov. 11 for the Petaluma Veterans Day parade – an annual tradition that’s billed as largest tribute to America’s troops north of the Golden Gate Bridge.|

Petaluma’s streets and skies will be bustling Nov. 11 for the Petaluma Veterans Day parade – an annual tradition that’s billed as largest tribute to America’s troops north of the Golden Gate Bridge.

This year’s parade steps off from Walnut Park at 1 p.m. after a musical celebration at noon. The procession will be followed by a 2:45 p.m. ceremony that includes a prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, and speeches from local veterans’ advocates.

The event is expected to draw a crowd of 40,000, according to organizer Steve Kemmerle, a Petaluma resident and member of American Legion Post 28.

More than 200 entries have been received, with as many as 50 military vehicles, including a Sherman tank, a Walker Bulldog tank and a two-man tank from the North Bay Military Vehicle Club, expected to wind through the streets along with 15 Corvettes carrying veterans.

Flying overhead will be helicopters, two biplanes, and a USCG C-130, Kemmerle said

Two United States Coast Guard Color Guards will be present, with other highlights to include a motorcycle that’s been decked out to look like a firetruck in honor of the Middletown firefighters who battled last year’s Valley Fire, as well as a showing from fire companies and scout troops.

Grown from humble roots, the parade has evolved since its inception in the 1980s and earned a solid reputation around the Bay Area, said Kemmerle, an Army veteran who has organized the event for more than a decade.

“Petaluma has had a history for years of doing something on Veterans Day, and the people are supportive and donors have helped me out tremendously,” he said.

For Kemmerle, who works for several months to lay the groundwork for the volunteer-run festivities, the parade serves a key component to increasing visibility for veterans.

“If we don’t recognize the veterans, everyone is going to forget about them and forget what they did and the sacrifice they’re making now,” he said.

Also making a showing in this year’s parade will be as many as 25 Native Americans from tribes in several states who will march, drum and sing, according to Petaluma resident and Karuk Indian Terrance “Chitcus” Brown.

Brown will lead the procession as a medicine man, followed by a 21-foot-long hand-carved ceremonial dugout canoe. The Penry family, relatives of Petaluma Medal of Honor recipient Richard A. Penry, will also carry the military colors for the Native American veterans.

Brown, who served in the Marines during the Vietnam War, said Native Americans who have served in the military often remain “quiet and proud,” shirking the spotlight. The parade provides an opportunity to highlight their service while also honoring fellow veterans, he said.

“The price of freedom is not free, and I say that very strongly because it’s our veterans that gave us our life today and our privileges,” he said.

Among the two guest speakers is Donna Lundstom, a psychiatric nurse who spent more than a decade at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and works as an advocate for veterans in Petaluma.

Lundstrom, who organizes a letter writing campaign to troops each July 4 and has marched in the parade for four years, said she’s grateful for the opportunity to give back.

“I feel really good when I walk in the parade and see all the vets and everyone that comes out to honor them,” she said. “We should have more than one day a year to honor the vets.”

This year’s parade will be led by a handful of grand marshals: Elaine Richter, a WWII Women’s Army Corp veteran and her son Ingraham Benavidus, who served in the Coast Guard in the Vietnam War; Al Smith, a WWII veteran and a former American Legion Commander, as well as WWII Army veteran George Morris, Sr. and his son, Vietnam Army veteran George Morris, Jr. Michael Bailey, a U.S. Navy veteran who served in Vietnam and his grandmother Evelyn Weekes Dahl, who served as in the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service unit of the U.S. Navy in WWII will also serve as grand marshals.

For more information, visit petalumaveteransparade.com.

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