"On this Memo­r­ial Day—one of our nation’s most solemn and revered holidays—we all pause to reflect upon the prin­ci­ples that have made our nation great. We pause to remem­ber the true cost of free­dom and honor those who made the ulti­mate sac­ri­fice to pro­tect it. The brave men and women we honor today self­lessly gave of them­selves to defend a way of life that we all cher­ish: The rights of all peo­ple to deter­mine their own futures, free of oppres­sion and fear.

Today, many of us may gather with fam­ily and friends to usher in the sum­mer sea­son, but it is impor­tant that we never for­get why we gather and remem­ber the brave men and women who gave so much and the fam­i­lies and loved ones left behind.

These brave indi­vid­u­als answered the call to serve in our nation’s hour of need, and so keep­ing with the tra­di­tion of Memo­r­ial Day, we gather to place flags on the graves of the fallen and to pay silent and pub­lic trib­ute to those who stepped well beyond the lines of fear, doubt, and self-preservation to safe­guard the val­ues of the United States of America."

-- Message from the American Veterans