Bay Area Celebrates Veterans Day with Ceremonies, Parades, Outreach

The Bay Area is celebrating Veterans Day on Wednesday with parades and ceremonies, freebies and outreach for the area’s numerous homeless veterans.

Ceremonies were planned throughout the region to honor those who have fought in wars.

Aboard the USS Hornet Museum in Alameda, a ceremony beginning late this morning featured a ceremonial wreath toss off the World War II-era aircraft carrier, followed by music and speakers.

Las Positas College in Livermore planned a Vietnam-era helicopter flyover followed by three speakers, all veterans of World War II.

Berkeley is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its Vietnam War Memorial with speeches by former Mayor Shirley Dean and local actor Robert Sinclair. Musical performances were also scheduled at the Berkeley Veterans Memorial Building.

In Marin County, Matt Proietti, a journalist and U.S. Air Force reservist who recently published a biography of a decorated Vietnam veteran, was scheduled to give a talk at a Veterans Day event in the Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium in San Rafael.

Graveside ceremonies were planned this morning in El Cerrito and Sn Bruno.

Flag ceremonies were planned in Pittsburg, Pinole and Albany. A brand new memorial was scheduled to open in Mountain View, an event city officials said would be the largest there in decades.

While many of the ceremonies will be solemn, Petaluma planned a boisterous Veterans Day Parade through downtown, beginning and ending at Walnut Park.

Most of the area ceremonies are concerned with celebrating and honoring the service records of the nation’s veterans, but some events will take on the challenges veterans face after returning from war, including homelessness, unemployment and mental illness.

Richmond held a veterans’ resource fair Wednesday to provide assistance with health care, housing and education. The event at 934 Maine Ave. will also feature children’s activities.

Officials in Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties are both expected to make announcements today to provide assistance to the hundreds of homeless veterans living in those two counties.

Nationwide, nearly 50,000 veterans are estimated to go without housing each night. Those veterans with less dire needs will be eligible for freebies and discounts throughout the day.

The San Francisco Zoo is offering a free day for veterans, Walnut Creek On Ice is offering discounted rates, and chain restaurant Wienerschnitzel is offering each veteran a free chili dog and a small Pepsi.

--Bay City News Service, photo via Shutterstock