PHOENIX – Piestewa Peak Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, will participate in the 13th Annual Sunrise Memorial Service at Piestewa Peak Park, Apache Ramada, on Thursday, March 23, 2017. The annual memorial service is scheduled from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. It was started in 2004 to honor fallen Army Soldier Lori Piestewa and has expanded to honor other Arizonans killed in combat.
Members of Piestewa Peak DAR Chapter, from Scottsdale and north Phoenix, will provide bottled water to those gathered to honor fallen service members during the event. Piestewa Peak Chapter is the newest of Arizona’s 42 active DAR chapters and was chartered on October 8, 2016. The chapter is named after Piestewa Peak, the second highest point in the Phoenix Mountains. The Peak was named for Specialist Lori Ann Piestewa, a U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps Soldier and member of the Hopi Tribe in northeastern Arizona, who was killed in Iraq on March 23, 2003.
According to event organizers, several Native American tribes will be represented including Navajo, Hopi, Gila River, and Havasupai. The event includes military honor guards, Native American dancers, and speakers, including former POWs who served with Lori Piestewa in Iraq. Parking is limited; event organizers have arranged for the public and media to park at Lincoln Heights Christian Church, 2121 E. Lincoln Drive to take a shuttle to Apache Ramada.
The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in 1890 to promote historic preservation, education and patriotism. Its members are descended from the patriots who won American independence during the Revolutionary War. With more than 177,000 members in approximately 3,000 chapters worldwide, DAR is one of the world’s largest and most active service organizations. DAR members are committed to volunteer service having served more than 12.5 million hours in communities throughout the world during the past three years. To learn more about the work of today’s DAR, visit www.DAR.org or connect with DAR on social media at facebook.com/TodaysDAR, twitter.com/TodaysDAR and youtube.com/TodaysDAR.
