Cathedral City honors Coachella Valley veterans

CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. (KESQ) - American Veterans Post 66 and the Jon Castro Chapter of Veterans for Peace are hosting a Veterans Day ceremony in Cathedral City at 10 A.M. 

Natalina Garritano, a World War II survivor, is being honored at the event. She says that she wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for an American solider. When she was 11 years old in Italy, the building next to her was bombed by Germany. 

“I bent down on the ground, some American solider saw me and pulled me out,” she says. 

The ceremony also honors Officer Jorge Diaz from Palm Springs Police Department. He served in the Marines for seven years. “My parents were immigrants to this country…so to me, it was very important to give back to the country where I grew up in,” he says. 

The event is open to the public and features several speakers, including Palm Springs City Council Member Jeffrey Bernstein and James Apedaile, national president of American Veterans For Equal
Rights.