San Diego Chapter Events Calendar

This is an expanded version of the gatherings we have held the past two years and we have invited members from other California chapters. We don't plan on any content, just spending time together as Compatriots. We have had a request to expand the event to add more people from outside of our Chapter to the invitation. We will be at the 94th Aero Squadron in San Diego, adjacent to the Montgomery airfield. We will gather in the bar area (outside) and there are no reservations at the venue for our group so show up a little early to claim a spot. The gathering will be from 6pm until 8pm but you are welcome to stay later. There is no signup required and no fee to attend but you are responsible for your own tab. Let us know if you plan to be there by clicking on the "Register" button below and submitting your information.

July 4th is always a busy weekend for our Chapter. We anticipate that members of our Color Guard will march in the Coronado Parade and we will also man an information table in front of the House of Spain and if we have enough people we will host our booth in front of the House of USA. Please contact our Chapter President if you plan to attend and participate in any of these activities.

Each year a memorial takes place at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery at the Benningtion Memorial.  The graves of the 35 Bennington sailors buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery will be decorated. On the morning of July 21, 1905, coal passers were stoking the boilers of the USS Bennington, and at 10:38 a.m. a low, rumbling roar crossed San Diego Bay, followed by two quick blasts as boilers in the engine room exploded. Clouds of black steam rose over the waterfront near where the USS Midway is now berthed. Army Captain Rolfe, crossing the bay in a launch on the way to Fort Rosecrans quickly boarded the ship. “The whole deck seemed to lift,” he later told a reporter. When the air over the bay cleared, 65 sailors and one officer lay dead and dying on the decks of the ship and in the surrounding waters. (Paraphrased from A Naval Disaster in San Diego: Inter-Service Cooperation in 1905, published paper by Karen Scanlon and Mary Ellen Cortellini in the Journal of America’s Military Past, 2005.) More information on the USS Bennington

We will move our meeting location this year and as of now we plan to be at the Mormon Battalion Historic Site & Museum in Old Town. While the idea of meeting in Balboa Park always has some appeal we have found that we cannot seem to schedule around Park road closures for special event which has made parking nearly impossible. This typically our Constitutional Congress themed meeting. Once we have program details we will update this page.

The annual massing of the colors has been scheduled for the Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park on the morning of October 11th. This features many Color Guards from San Diego as well as speakers. It is a spectacular free event that is open to everyone.

We will have a Veteran themed meeting this year.