Golden Gate Park ‘Heroes Grove’ to be rededicated on Memorial Day

A redwood grove in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, originally established a century ago in memory of those who died during World War I, will be rededicated at a Memorial Day ceremony at 3 p.m. Monday.

 Heroes Grove was established at a ceremony attended by some 12,000 people on Memorial Day in 1919, when an initial coast redwood tree was planted in honor those killed in the Great War.

In 1932, The Gold Star Mothers, dedicated a granite boulder engraved with the names of more than 800 men and women who lost their lives in the war, timed in conjunction with the completion of the War Memorial Veterans Building and Opera House.

Heroes Grove, now a 100-year-old grove of redwoods, will be rededicated Monday by the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department and the San Francisco Armistice Centennial Committee.

The ceremony, to be officiated by retired judge and San Francisco Supervisor Quentin Kopp and retired U.S. Marine Corps Major General J.M. Myatt, will include the first signage for the grove since its original dedication.

After the ceremony the first redwood tree since 1919 will be planted at the grove.

Heroes Grove is located on John F. Kennedy Drive, across from the de Young Museum, near Eighth Avenue.