It began with a flag.

One by one they stepped to their left in unison, each holding a section of the U.S. flag. They stopped four times to raise the flag briefly on one side to each of the cardinal directions. After the fourth raise, the Salt River veterans and Young Warriors members held the flag as it was folded to be put away.

This is a process known as the breathing of the flag ceremony, and it was done to honor and remember the fallen from the attack on Pearl Harbor more than 80 years ago.

Each December 7, the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community holds a ceremony at its USS Arizona Memorial Gardens as part of a national Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day commemoration. The Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawai’i was attacked by Japan on December 7, 1941, resulting in the deaths of more than 2,400 members of the military, including 1,117 from the USS Arizona. The surprise attack triggered the entry of the United States into World War II.

The Community has held a breathing of the flag ceremony since 2007, when it was granted ownership of a flag that had flown over the USS Arizona. The flag had been raised to half-staff earlier that morning before the December 7 ceremony at the Memorial Gardens, home to the USS Arizona’s original boat house relic.

The remembrance program also included a 21-gun salute by members of the San Carlos Apache Veterans Association, wreath laying and guest speakers. SRPMIC President Martin Harvier gave an invocation and Vice-President Ricardo Leonard shared a benediction. Veteran Ric Hartman, who, along with Leonard and others, helped bring the flag and relic back to the Community, also spoke.

Hartman and Leonard shared some of the backstory of the flag and relic. Both traveled to Hawai’i as members of the American Legion Bushmasters Post 114 to receive the flag in 2007.

“We will continue this until that day when we need to replace this flag and get another one,” Leonard said. “But we don’t do this just for our American Legion post, or any other organization; we do this for all the veterans that are out there.”

Miss Salt River Sialik King sang the national anthem in O’odham and Jr. Miss Salt River Diondria Pilger gave the Pledge of the Allegiance. Troy Truax Jr., SRPMIC veterans representative, was master of ceremonies.

The program was open to the public and dozens of people showed up to pay their respects, including area veterans.

The relic is a portion of the original boat house pulled from the sunken remains of the USS Arizona. It is on display in a building at the Memorial Gardens, which spans the exact length and width of the USS Arizona and includes 1,500 columns outlining the ship’s perimeter. Each column represents a life lost aboard the ship on that horrific day, with the gaps between the columns representing individuals who survived the attack. The USS Arizona Memorial Gardens is located near Salt River Fields in the Talking Stick Entertainment District and is open daily. The relic room is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (the boat house can be viewed at any time, even when the relic room is not open). More information can be found online at www.USSArizonaSaltRiver.com.