Passage of Remembrance
San Francisco Veterans Memorial
Korean War Sacred Soil Ceremony
Over the years, honor was shown to fallen veterans by interring battlefield soils in the Memorial Court Octagon. Since its start, battlefield soils from WWI, WWII, Austria, Belgium, Cambodia, China, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Guam, Italy, Laos, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam have all been interred into the Octagon.
In 2014, when The Passage of Remembrance Memorial was erected, the soils were carefully removed and safeguarded. The Memorial provides an area within its walls where the soil was re-interred as part of the Memorial’s dedication.
In 2016 soils from Afghanistan and Iraq were interred into the Memorial as part of the Gold Star Parents ceremony.
On May 20, 2017, in a ceremony co-sponsored by the San Francisco Veterans Memorial Committee and the Korean War Memorial Foundation, battlefield soil from Korea will be added to the Veterans Memorial in ongoing remembrance of the courageous men and women who have given themselves in the service of freedom.
We give special thanks to the Honorable Chae-Hyun Shin, Consul General of the Republic of Korea, in San Francisco, for securing the soil from one of the major battlefields of the Korean War.
Saturday, May 20, 2017, 11:00 a.m.
San Francisco Veterans Memorial
401 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94102
Please join us as we honor the men and women for their courageous service in the pursuit of freedom.