The military ceremony begins at 1 PM. The tour starts with Jason Watkins who fought in the Mexican War. He later came to Woodland and was the Sheriff of Yolo County. The next two individuals fought in the Civil War: one Yankee, Erastus Farnham, and one Reb, John Winters, who later became pioneer farmers in Yolo County. Erastus was 16. Then we have Brooks Johnston, a colored soldier, who fought in the Spanish American War. World War I focused on Johnnie Schaupp from Hungry Hollow and then we get to hear a mother’s perspective of the death of her son, William Oliver. Finally we will highlight two soldiers from World War II: George Nakamura, a Japanese who was classified an ‘enemy alien’ and then went on to win honor as a member of the 442nd Regimental Combat team and finally Margaret Nicholson , who was a nurse in Europe during WWII.

When I (KH) began to research these individuals I was pleasantly surprised to find that many of these men fought under great generals: General John J. Pershing, General U.S. Grant, General Robert E. Lee, General Stonewall Jackson, General Winfield Scott. One individual fought with the future Senator from Hawaii, Daniel Inouye. The other surprise was the locations that these men fought: Battle of Shiloh, Harper’s Ferry, Battle of Antietam, Argonne Forest in France, the German Gothic Line in Italy.

Even the Underground Railroad played a part. Who knew??? What a surprise! I think you will be surprised too. Come and spend an afternoon learning about these remarkable men and women of our community.  

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