Sergeant William Stacey left this letter to be read in the event of his death. He died in a bombing earlier this year in Afghanistan. It was his fourth deployment.
ICYMI, Mitt Romney’s speech at Memorial Day tribute in San Diego
“I think it’s important for us as Americans and for the military to recognize that these dogs are forced to perform duties that most people wouldn’t choose to perform,” she said. “The only people who truly, truly know what they give us are their handlers and the soldiers who work with them.”
(Photo by Romeo Gacad/AFP/Getty Image)
ICYMI, President Obama’s Memorial Day remarks at Arlington National Cemetery
Across the country this weekend, Americans filled up and hit the road — taking advantage of a timely drop in gas prices.
How much are you paying for gas this Memorial Day weekend? Send us your #viewfromthepump.
NewsHour Publishes Videos, Transcripts to Tumblr as Hacking Attack Continues
As websites for the NewsHour, Frontline and PBS remain under attack by hackers, the NewsHour has published its transcripts and videos from Monday night’s broadcast to Tumblr for the time being.
Thanks for your patience as we work to get everything back to normal.
Obama Names ‘Pragmatic’ Gen. Dempsey to Head Joint Chiefs of Staff
News Wrap: Yemeni Forces Try to Retake Militant-Held Town
Joplin Mayor: ‘We Haven’t Quite Started Rebuilding Yet’
Meteorologist on Severe Weather: ‘We Have Never Seen a Year Like This Before’
Vatican Maintains Stance on Condoms at HIV/AIDS Summit
Poet Honors American Service Personnel Killed in War
Watch the full NewsHour broadcast:
Also, on this Memorial Day, be sure to check out our report about 15,000 candle luminaries at a Civil War cemetery in Virginia:
Fredericksburg Battlefield Memorial Lights Up, 150 Years After Civil War
(Source: newshour.pbs.org)
Fredericksburg Battlefield Memorial Lights Up, 150 Years After Civil War
By Justin Scuiletti
Fredericksburg, Va. | As part of a Memorial Day tradition, more than 15,000 luminaries were set up over the weekend at Fredericksburg Battlefield to represent each of the 15,300 Union soldiers from the Civil War buried atop a hill called Marye’s Heights.
In 1862, the Battle of Fredericksburg was fought here. Three years later, the land was purchased by the United States government to bury the fallen. It now belongs to the Fredericksburg National Cemetery, the fourth-largest Civil War burial ground.
The luminary tradition began in 1995 in the footsteps of the Antietam National Battlefield luminary project, which occurs every November. Fredericksburg moved its memorial to the Saturday before each Memorial Day with luminaries placed among the grave markers — instead of the battlefield itself — to honor the men who fought and died there.
This April marked the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War, a fact not forgotten by Donald Pfanz, staff historian of the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, which encompasses Fredericksburg Battlefield.
“It forces us to not only look back and look at the consequences of the war for us, but also the sacrifice that so many men made in order to keep this nation free.”
(Source: newshour.pbs.org)
Poet Honors American Service Personnel Killed in War
Wyatt Prunty’s poem, “The Returning Dead,” is a response to the NewsHour’s Honor Roll of service personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The poem first aired in 2006.
Transcript Below*
*Poetry Foundation provided funding for this project
(Source: newshour.pbs.org)
Obama Names ‘Pragmatic’ Gen. Dempsey to Head Joint Chiefs of Staff
President Obama chose Memorial Day to announce that Gen. Martin Dempsey will succeed Adm. Mike Mullen as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Jeffrey Brown discusses the president’s announcement with former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Celeste Ward Gventer and Washington Post military correspondent Greg Jaffe.
Transcript below
(Source: newshour.pbs.org)
Memorial Day Reads
If you need something to read or watch you’re in luck: Reporter Molly Finnegan whipped up a list of some of our great Memorial Day related stories.
- ‘The Returning Dead’: “Each night I make a drink and wait for them/ They have become the day’s concluding news” -Wyatt Prunty wrote the “The Returning Dead” as a response to the NewsHour’s Honor Roll [May 31, 2010]
- “War is long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror.” Between the battles, photographers captured scenes of the Civil War [April 12, 2011]
- “A Memorial Day at a time of war is a unique and freighted thing…” Essayist Anne Taylor Fleming reflects [May 31, 2004]
- “Modern memorials, like modern art, are unassertive, deliberately vague.” -Roger Rosenblatt has some thoughts on our Memorial Days. [May 29, 2000]
- A book about war that has stood the test of time: last year we talked to ‘The Things They Carried’ author Tim O’Brien for the book’s 20th anniversary [April 28, 2010]
- Five scholars discuss the origins and implications of Memorial Day [May 24, 1996]
- Everyone loves dogs,” says Olszak. “All of our dogs remind the guys of their pups at home, so it’s a good morale boost.” A profile of military dogs in Quantico. [May 26, 2011]
- Extended interviews with Maya Lin on the Vietnam War Memorial [May 12, 2009]
- A program that provides horseback therapy for vets [May 25, 2009]
- A conversation about the elite WWII force that saved Europe’s monuments from Nazi forces [November 11, 2009]
- RIP Tim Hetherington. Jeffrey Brown spoke to him about his experience covering wars. [November 16, 2010]
(Source: newshour.pbs.org)
