Latest news with #NationalCemetery
CBS News
26-05-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Trump marks Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery
President Trump on Monday visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and delivered remarks at Arlington National Cemetery to commemorate Memorial Day by honoring those who have died while serving their country. "Every day the Republic stands is only possible because of those who did what had to be done when duty called," Mr. Trump said. "Our debt to them is eternal, and it does not diminish with time. It only grows and grows and grows with each passing year. The greatest monument to their courage is not carved in marble or cast in bronze. It's all around us, an American nation, 325 million strong." Before his remarks, the president laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a somber annual tradition for presidents, and one Mr. Trump participated in during his first term as president. He was accompanied by Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who stood behind him as he placed the wreath. "Each life honored here in Arlington was once full of the ordinary moments and quiet dreams of early sunrises, of good days and bad days, of celebrations and disappointments," Vance said. "For my fellow Americans, especially those watching on television, consider the sum of all the moments that make a good life, and now appreciate that countless strangers — people most of you never met — they gave up those moments in their own life so that we could enjoy them in ours. And that is what Memorial Day is all about." Early Monday, Mr. Trump posted a message on his social media platform Truth Social about Memorial Day, writing in all caps that he wished a "happy Memorial Day to all," including the "scum that spent the last four years trying to destroy our country through warped radical left minds." He went on to target immigration policies and accused "USA-hating judges who suffer from an ideology that is sick, and very dangerous for our country" of protecting criminals. Memorial Day honors those who died in uniform as a result of battle. Since the Revolutionary War, the Department of Veterans Affairs estimates more than 650,000 U.S. military personnel have died in battle. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, completed in 1932, represents the burial site of a soldier from World War I whose remains could not be identified. Unknown remains from later wars were added in 1958 and 1984. Earlier this month, the president proclaimed on Truth Social that the U.S. will designate new holidays to commemorate the end of World War I and World War II in Europe. "All over the World, the Allies are celebrating the Victory we had in World War II. The only Country that doesn't celebrate is the United States of America, and the Victory was only accomplished because of us," Mr. Trump said in that post. "I am hereby declaring a National Holiday in celebration of the Victories of World War I, where the Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, and World War II, where the Victory date was May 8, 1945," he wrote. Nov. 11 is already a federal holiday, known as Veterans Day. May, 8, 1945, is generally known as Victory in Europe Day, or V-E Day, since the war in the Pacific lasted until the Japanese surrendered, which was announced on Aug. 14, 1945.
CBS News
25-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
Volunteers with The Honor Project return to the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies
Volunteers with The Honor Project return to the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies Volunteers with The Honor Project return to the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies Volunteers with The Honor Project return to the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies Nearly 60 people gathered to remember the lives lost of those who served our country on Saturday, and allow them to not be alone for those who may not be able to come and remember them. It's nearly double the number of people who came out for the Travis Manion Foundation's first year of "The Honor Project" at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies. For someone like Angelic Smith, those moments hit home. "My husband was buried this time of year last year," she said. Her family is one of many Gold Star families. It's not easy. "You learn to grow with grief every day," Smith said. But part of it now involves turning grief into good. "I know by just seeing all these people that my husband's legacy will always be alive," Smith said. "We can say their name and remember them for those who cannot be here to remember them," Jessica Gardner, national manager for the 9/11 Heroes Run for the Travis Manion Foundation, said. It's why the Travis Manion Foundation hosted "The Honor Project" at the cemetery. "This is our second time here," Gardner said. It helps demonstrate to families and loved ones that people in graves like these are not forgotten. "A woman had an idea to do this because someone had said that they had a family member that they wanted them to visit, and they couldn't be there," Gardner said. The volunteers went around with their packets and stones. For some, this is close to them, too. "I have had family in the military and I've also had friends in the military," Leslie Brovenzano, chapter event coordinator, Travis Manion Foundation Pittsburgh chapter, said. State Senator Devlin Robinson made it a point to be here as well, as a veteran of the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan. "I want to make sure that all of our fallen comrades are honored," Robinson, the senator for Pennsylvania's 37th district, said. For Smith, that first time was difficult. "This year, being back here, I feel a little bit stronger," she said. It's in part because of that growth, but also the sense of comfort it can bring. "As long as they keep coming out here, laying those coins, [and] saying his name," Smith said, "forever he will be remembered."
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Volunteers play music at local cemetery to honor veterans on Armed Forces Day
Saturday marked Armed Forces Day, and with it came a performance by Bugles Across America. Band members played taps, the national anthem, and other military songs at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies. The group was founded 25 years ago after Congress passed legislation giving all veterans the right to military honors when they die. 'Our effort is to give taps for veterans instead of the recordings. Though the recording is very needed and very honorable, we like to try to do it live,' said State Director of Bugles Across America Drew Podnar. While around a dozen people took part in the celebration, Bugles Across America now has around 3,000 volunteers across all 50 states. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
An open letter to Sen. John Curtis
Dear Sen. John Curtis: You recently asked for input on four places you described as spots 'where American principles aren't just spoken, but also felt.' Those places, you said, are the Holocaust Museum, The National Museum of African American History and Culture, Arlington National Cemetery, and Ensign Peak in Utah. This open letter to you, in advance of your maiden speech on the Senate floor, is about one of those places: the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. Twenty years ago, our very large family went on a trip around the country. We visited national sites with historical significance, including the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall in Philadelphia and the Statue of Liberty in New York. When we arrived in our nation's capital, we had a long list of places to see: Smithsonian Museums, the Washington Monument, the Capitol Building, the White House and the Lincoln Memorial. But, on the very top of my list was the Holocaust Museum. One of the reasons I felt it was important for my children to see and understand what happened during the Holocaust was that many of the children in our family would not have been spared. You see, in our family, a number of our children have disabilities, are Black, have Jewish heritage or other attributes that would have made them targets during the Holocaust. People with disabilities were some of the first to be targeted under the Nazi regime, literally beginning the same day the war began. The Holocaust Museum Encyclopedia estimates that some 250,000 people with disabilities were 'euthanized' (murdered) during the regime. At first, doctors and staff in hospitals were encouraged to neglect patients, letting them die of starvation and disease. Infants and small children were also killed by lethal injection. Later, gas chambers were used. Next, we have children who have Jewish ancestry. Gone. My Black children? Obviously 'inferior' to the 'ideal' race envisioned by Hitler and his goons. Black people in Germany faced discriminatory laws and policies that restricted their economic and social opportunities. They were also harassed, imprisoned, ostracized, unable to find work, involuntarily sterilized and yes, murdered. In 1935, the Nazi government enacted two Nuremberg Race laws. The first, the Reich Citizenship Law, restricted German citizenship to those 'of German or related blood.' The second outlawed interracial marriage and any sexual relations between Germans and Black or Roma people. As we moved through the museum and its special exhibit at the time on medical 'experimentation,' several of my older children were indignant. 'That's not right!' they exclaimed. 'That's not fair!' Of course, they were right. They, like many people, wondered how things could have gotten so bad that mass killings became just a job. That leads me to my second reason for taking my children to the Holocaust Museum. I wanted them to understand that genocide does not start with killing. In fact, Sen. Curtis, when I talked to one of my children about this letter, I asked them what had stood out to them about the visit. My son was 15 at the time and told me that first, the museum had made a deep impact on him and is something that still comes to his mind. Second, what really stuck with him is just what I had hoped: that genocide does not begin with killing. That's where it ends. Dr. Gregory Stanton, founding president of Genocide Watch, has observed that every genocide has predictable processes, or ten 'stages,' although he is careful to clarify that this is not a linear process. Multiple stages can happen simultaneously. The first four stages all have to do with 'othering' people. The first stage is classification, when we classify the world into 'us versus them', including separation by race, ethnicity, religion and national origin. The second is symbolization, when we begin to give names to those classifications: Jew and Aryan, Hutu and Tutsi, Turk and Armenian. Sometimes the symbols are more than just naming, but are physical, like the Nazi yellow star, or the blue scarves the Khmer Rouge forced people from the eastern zone of Cambodia to wear. The third stage is discrimination, when laws and customs prevent groups of people from exercising their full rights as citizens or as human beings. Groups of people can't work, can't marry, can't send their kids to school and can have citizenship stripped away. They can't get redress in courts, can't vote and can't get passports. The list is extensive on how laws are used to further the othering. The fourth stage is dehumanization — calling people cockroaches, vermin, animals, a 'cancer' or disease. The dehumanization makes it easier for people to kill those they classified, symbolized and discriminated against. It becomes an act of patriotism to 'cleanse' society rather than seeing it as the murder it is. The fifth stage is organization, usually by the state, often using militias and armies. Sometimes, hate groups are militarized. The organization can be formal or informal, centralized or decentralized. The sixth stage is polarization, when 'moderates are targeted who could stop the process of division, especially moderates from the perpetrators' group.' The seventh stage is preparation, when plans for deportation and eventually killing are made by leaders. Perpetrators who support the leaders plans are usually trained and armed. The eighth stage is persecution, when victims are 'identified, arrested, transported, and concentrated into prisons, ghettos, or concentration camps, where they are tortured and murdered.' The ninth stage is extermination, or genocide, the intentional destruction, in whole or in part, of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. Finally, the tenth stage is denial. Denial continues the genocide, because it is an ongoing attempt to destroy the victim group psychologically and culturally, and to deny its members even the memory of the murders of their relatives. In my mind, one of the key lessons we should learn as individuals and society is that, believe it or not, actions have consequences. There was a musical a number of years back that had a song with the words: 'When I choose the very first step on the road, I also choose the last.' I want my children, my grandchildren, my neighbors, friends and fellow residents of planet Earth to deeply internalize that when we say 'never again,' we must start at the beginning of the process and not the end. The Holocaust Museum is sacred ground, not only because of its deliberate efforts to remember those that some would prefer forgotten, but also because of its hopeful belief that genocide can be averted. As you pointed out in your letter, you do not want to be a politician that fits Aesop's insight, 'After all is said and done, more is said than done.' The Holocaust Museum should be a stark reminder that action must be taken when society begins to head down the road that leads to destruction of an entire population. I wish you all the best in your time as a Senator. My plea to you is to please take action and stand for those being 'othered.'
