Memorial Day 2020 will be unlike any other in the history of the United States. Our current public health situation has deprived us of many honored traditions and social gatherings. As we work to rebuild our lives and return to normalcy, the Veterans Legacy Program invites you to memorialize the fallen in new ways by experiencing the National Cemetery Administration’s Veterans Legacy Memorial. Together, we can still honor them.

The Veterans Legacy Memorial is an online database which provides a tribute page for each of the nearly 4 million service members and Veterans interred in our National Cemeteries across the country. NCA cemeteries are final resting places for all who served honorably: some who came home and some who gave all.

Students and teachers around the country who participate in the Veterans Legacy Program are discovering the stories of hometown heroes in their local national cemeteries. Three of those heroes are James Jacques (full biography; memorial page), Sidney Malatsky (full biography; memorial page), and Brett Lundstrom (full biography; memorial page). We encourage you to read their stories of service and sacrifice and leave a tribute to them on the Veterans Legacy Memorial. 

If you have a service member you wish to honor, you can search for them on the Veterans Legacy Memorial and leave a comment as a lasting tribute on their memorial page. Please join us in remembering them this Memorial Day.

For educators in your community

Learning Materials: Why do they serve?

Why do ordinary citizens decide to serve in the military to fight for their country and how can we honor their sacrifice?

Students at the University of Central Florida participating in the Veterans Legacy Program designed a lesson plan, entitled The Greatest Sacrifice, to guide students through primary source-based accounts of individual Veterans and service members. Through careful analysis, students will determine reasons that ordinary men and women are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for the United States of America.  Students will be encouraged to honor and remember them. 

Designed for 11th grade social studies, this plan can be adapted for younger audiences.

Download the lesson plan for teachers