Memorial Day: How To Get Involved

The meaning behind Memorial Day is often overshadowed by excitement for weekend vacations, barbecues and beach days. This year, take time to honor the men and women that have lost their lives serving in the armed forces.

Tune in for the National Memorial Day Concert, which will be broadcast Sunday, May 30. You can check local listings by searching your zip code on the PBS website.

Ways to get involved:

• Honor fallen heroes by volunteering at a veterans cemetery on Memorial Day or any time of year. Volunteers can give cemetery tours, help with maintenance, raise and lower flags and more. Use the National Cemetery Administration website to find a volunteer opportunity near you.

• Attend a Memorial Day parade. Search the U.S. Memorial Day Parade Directory to find an event in your community.

• The American Red Cross is asking volunteers to honor Memorial Day by giving blood to save American lives. Call 1-800-RED CROSS or visit the Red Cross website to make an appointment to donate.

• Bring a smile to the faces of deployed troops around the world by sending them a USO Care Package. Each care package is $25.

• Make a contribution to Cell Phones For Soldiers, an organization collecting donated cell phones to help troops abroad call home. Donors can give their old cell phones or make a financial contribution to the program.

• Support veterans in your community by volunteering at a local VA hospital. The easiest way to get started is to fill out a volunteer form with the VA Volunteer Service and a representative will help you find the right volunteer opportunity for you. Read Causecast's How To Support Veterans guide for more suggestions on how to make a difference for local veterans.

Comments

[Madbunny]

02:29 PM on 06/02/2010

It is important to remember that soldiers are not heroes. A soldier, is a person like any other, a doctor, a fireman, a teacher. Each person has the ability and incentive to act in a way that is consistent with their morals and education.

We should remember that, because they are not heroes, just people, our soldiers deserve to be educated and supported. I do that by remembering that for the most part they have no say in where they go, or what they will be doing. This isn't WW2 where volunteering for the service was almost a guarantee to wind up on the Eastern front, fighting a known adversary. Todays adversaries are shifting, nebulous and their actions only connected to us by the most tenuous grasp of logic and politics.

I support my troops by doing my best to get them back home, where they can live with their families and children. I support my troops by remembering that they are just people, like you and I, and they deserve the same respect as you or I.

[madtube]

08:09 PM on 06/01/2010

I support the troops by being a loving husband to my lovely wife. She is active military and I am proud of her.

[tonygumbrell]

02:57 PM on 06/01/2010

Our glorious troops are hired killers.

[eljefefx]

07:43 PM on 06/01/2010

Thanks for insulting us.

[tonygumbrell]

08:28 PM on 06/01/2010

I was an infantry soldier in Vietnam who voluntered for Vietnam service. I was a hired killer. In retrospect, I am not proud of it, because I was a mercenary in an unneccesary war. If the shoe fits wear it.

[eljefefx]

06:39 PM on 06/02/2010

Enjoy your self loathing.

[DistressedWatcher]

01:02 PM on 06/01/2010

I am a 3 tour vet of Iraq...and to be honest. Im tired of all the "thank yous" and "you are a hero". Why? Because I'm sick and tired of being thanked for killing people. It makes me want to vomit.

[TomJoad1965]

02:04 AM on 06/01/2010

The best songs for Memorial day is, Sgt. MacKenzie by Joseph Kilna MacKenzie and the Civil War version of, The Minstrel Boy by Thomas Moore

[SouthSideHooligan]

05:06 AM on 06/01/2010

Outstanding.

[TomJoad1965]

05:24 AM on 06/01/2010

Hooah!

[flabingo]

01:43 AM on 06/01/2010

FYI If you have a friend or relative who served in Vietnam during the war for ONE DAY he is entitled to VA benefits, because of AGENT ORANGE, independent of his age. Many people are not aware. Help them

[AmericanDreamWarrior]

01:10 AM on 06/01/2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvtHGOwgmxc

I posted this on the story of Obamas speach but wanted to post it here as well.

This is my dedication to our fallen that allow us to sleep in our beds without fear, I pray for those that have yet to come home that they do so and soon! I give thanks to those also not in uniform but gave their lives for the country that they loved so much, to all those that have returned with wounds both visible and not, may they heal soon with our blessings and thanks! And to all those civilians, that were sadly caught in the cross fire and lost their lives or loved ones, may their souls rest in peace and forgive those responsible!

The link above is to a video made by pocketsizesun the song is by Iced Earth "Ghost of Freedom"

Warning: grab some kleenex!

[TomJoad1965]

03:34 AM on 06/01/2010

That was good!

[isee61]

12:57 AM on 06/01/2010

Thank you to our fallen Soldiers, your families and friends for your service to us/me.

Thank you my dear daughter PFC VL Mitchell for your service. USMC, November company, 4th batallion Parris Island.

[piobaireachd]

01:11 AM on 06/01/2010

thanks for letting us know of her service, and thanks to her for it

[SouthSideHooligan]

04:36 AM on 06/01/2010

Tell that Marine the US Army says 'thanks'.

[wijg]

12:51 AM on 06/01/2010

Remembering Soldiers with Invisible Wounds...
On this Memorial Day, I hope and wish that all our soldiers now at home and those who’ll come home soon can expect the same. Remember them, and remember that they need you now and for a very long time to come. Be there for them.

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/52058

[piobaireachd]

01:12 AM on 06/01/2010

thanks for the words of reminder

[flatbushfan]

12:13 AM on 06/01/2010

When I got home from from my tour I saw the father of a guy I grew up with and who went into the Army around the same time I joined the Marine Corp and who, sadly was killed in combat. The dad was always full of life and engaged but he was now physically changed, his posture was different, he looked at the ground when he walked down the street, he was the physical embodiment of sad. It was about 5 years before I moved out of the neighborhood and I never saw him look any different. It is not just we veterans who deserve to be honored, remembered and appreciated today.

[piobaireachd]

01:10 AM on 06/01/2010

lovely and poignant, and very true

thanks for the post

[SouthSideHooligan]

04:37 AM on 06/01/2010

we work to be worthy of his sacrifice.

[dredpirateroberts]

11:54 PM on 05/31/2010

God bless our veterans! Say safe, and thank you for your service.

[SouthSideHooligan]

04:37 AM on 06/01/2010

Thank you for your gratitude. We do what we do for you.

[ActonMBA]

11:50 PM on 05/31/2010

All great ideas -- many of which, like donating blood, people don't readily think of. For some more ways to commemorate Memorial Day, check out the Acton MBA blog, where we honor those who laid down their lives so that we might have the political, economic, and religious freedoms that are the foundation of principled entrepreneurship. http://www.actonmba.org/blog/editorial/memorial-day/

[rubinoff]

11:44 PM on 05/31/2010

when to Antietam Battle Field, today...w/gratitude and offered a prayer for our troops.

[rubinoff]

11:47 PM on 05/31/2010

hmmmm....had 158 fans a few days ago...just getting on here...oh well.

[TomJoad1965]

01:41 AM on 06/01/2010

It happened to me as well.
We've been pissing off our friends, or there is a purge of posters.
It's been happening to every body to day.

[TomJoad1965]

01:47 AM on 06/01/2010

My Grand Dad was captured there, after his unit rushed in to save Lee.
later paroled, and fought until he lost his leg at Petersburg.

[dabblesome]

11:26 PM on 05/31/2010

There are many like it but this one is mine

[Ralph Noyes]

11:39 PM on 05/31/2010

Toodles, tro11.

[SouthSideHooligan]

04:38 AM on 06/01/2010

He's obviously never carried one in combat or he wouldn't have posted that.

[FearlessFreep]

11:19 PM on 05/31/2010

I say, Don't wait till they're veterans!

[Its The Voice of Reason]

11:33 PM on 05/31/2010

Huh?