LITTLE BOSTON — During a day set aside to honor members of the Armed Forces, the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe is feating its veterans, who represented the tribe as well as served the United States. The community intends to make it a day to remember, though the veterans have asked that the celebration be a simple one.

At 2 p.m. today, surrounded by friends, family and homemade pies, tribal veterans will share stories of their years in service and enjoy dinner together.

“The veterans always enjoy this celebration,” said event organizer Kathy Sullivan. “We just keep it simple, not too long. They chose to do it that way. We could go all out, but they asked us not to.”

Veterans will receive a gift at the dinner while their photos and service information will be on display during the celebration. This year, also, the tribe decided to honor two World War II veterans, Ivan George and Aaron Purser. George served in the U.S. Army from 1941-1944, and Purser served in the U.S. Navy from 1942-1945.

“We thought it was important to recognize them,” Sullivan said. “They are our only surviving World War II veterans, and we felt it was very important they were given a special honor.”

“Two people are working on interviewing Aaron and Ivan, having them talk about when they served and what it was like,” said event organizer Jamie Eikman. “We’ll present them with special jackets we had made up for them.”

All other veterans will receive sweatshirts with “Port Gamble S’Klallam Veteran” inscribed on the back, Sullivan said. Though the veterans have asked that the party be kept lighthearted and casual, several of the women in the neighborhood are getting together to bake pies and make sure that the dinner will be memorable.

“This is something the tribe does every year to honor our veterans,” said tribal associate director Laurie Mattson. “This is our way of saying ‘thank you.’”

Little Boston residents invited veterans from all over to observe the holiday with them, Eikman said, and several veterans from Suquamish and Bremerton will travel to the North End to enjoy a meal there. The tribe itself has a wide age range of ex-soldiers among its population as well, and many of the younger members enjoy hearing stories from the elders.

“We forget how much the world has changed since some of our veterans were fighting a war,” Sullivan said.