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> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
> May 23, 2002
>
> **VA Facilities Plan Memorial Day Observances**
>
> WASHINGTON \-- Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities
> throughout the country will observe Memorial Day on May 27 with
> ceremonies recognizing service members who have given their lives for
> their country.
>
> \"Our future and the blessings of liberty were secured by Americans
> who sacrificed their lives to defend a cause greater than
> themselves,\" said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi.
> \"We are indebted to them and to all who wore the uniforms of our
> armed services.\"
>
> Principi called on Americans to pause at 3 p.m., local time, for a
> National Moment of Remembrance. That moment of reflection was
> recognized by an act of Congress to put the \"memorial\" back in
> Memorial Day and to honor America's fallen heroes.
>
> Memorial Day ceremonies open to the public are planned at VA national
> cemeteries around the country. Some will include national, state and
> local leaders or veterans group officials along with color guards,
> decorated veterans, bands and choirs.
>
> Many of VA\'s 120 national cemeteries will have special activities
> ranging from historical ceremonies and the display of the Avenue of
> Flags along main roads to the placement of individual gravesite flags.
>
> Approximately 1,000 Girl and Boy Scouts are expected to decorate
> 64,000 graves with small flags at the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery
> in San Diego. As part of the 50^th^ anniversary commemoration of the
> Korean War, a war memorial will be dedicated at the Black Hills
> National Cemetery in Sturgis, S.D.
>
> **- More -**
>
> **Memorial Day 2/2/2/2**
>
> The ceremony at Fort McPherson National Cemetery in Maxwell, Neb.,
> will mark completion of its last six acres of land, adding 5,500 more
> gravesites, new buildings and other improvements. For Indiantown Gap
> National Cemetery in Annville, Pa., this Memorial Day program will be
> the first one held in an amphitheater provided by donations and
> dedicated last fall to the state\'s veterans.
>
> Military flyovers will represent the old and new. At VA\'s Los Angeles
> National Cemetery, World War II vintage planes will do the honors,
> while at the Houston National Cemetery the Texas Air National Guard
> Spider Wing will fly over the crowd. Also at the Houston cemetery, the
> Randolph Air Force Base honor guard, the Blue Knights, will hold a
> prisoners-of-war remembrance ceremony.
>
> This Memorial Day also finds VA beginning an inventory of about 300
> military memorials in its cemeteries through a volunteer project.
>
> Every year, more than 8 million people visit VA\'s national cemeteries
> \-- half of which date to the Civil War \-- to pay tribute to some of
> the nearly 900,000 Americans who have died in military service. To
> honor its continuing commitment to veterans, VA is planning five new
> national cemeteries in Atlanta, Detroit, Miami, Pittsburgh and
> Sacramento, Calif.
>
> Veterans with an \"other than dishonorable\" discharge, as well as
> their spouses and dependent children, are entitled to burial in a VA
> national cemetery. Veterans buried in private cemeteries may have
> their graves marked with a government headstone or marker. Funeral
> homes can help survivors arrange for a burial flag, military funeral
> honors and a Presidential Memorial Certificate recognizing a
> veteran\'s service to the country.
>
> In addition, survivors of veterans who were receiving VA disability
> payments at the time of death may be eligible for one of several types
> of reimbursements for certain burial expenses.
>
> The tradition of Memorial Day dates to 1868 when it was established as
> an event in May to clean and ornament the graves of fallen soldiers.
> It was first called Decoration Day.
>
> **- More -**
>
> **Memorial Day 3/3/3/3**
>
> Information on VA burial benefits is available from national
> cemeteries, VA web sites on the Internet at
> [http://www.va.gov](http://www.va.gov/) or
> [http://www.cem.va.gov](http://www.cem.va.gov/) or by calling VA
> regional offices on 800-827-1000.

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