WASHINGTON – Today, Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie released the following video message in honor of Memorial Day 2020.

Our country has been blessed with men and women whose sacrifices allowed us to flourish as individuals, as a society and as a nation. On Memorial Day, we pause to remember, honor and express our gratitude to all those Americans who lost their lives in uniform.

The names of many of them are forever memorialized in our Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), State Veterans and American Battle Monuments cemeteries across our country and around the world.

It is true that this Memorial Day is somewhat different. As we fight the COVID-19 pandemic, we do not gather as we normally would to honor our nation’s heroes. But we can still remember and honor them by spending a quiet moment paying homage to their courage and sacrifice.

I also encourage all Americans to pay tribute to deceased Veterans by visiting the Veterans Legacy Memorial. This site contains a memorial page for each Veteran interred in a VA national cemetery. Since May 14, online visitors have been able to leave a written “tribute” in memory and appreciation for a Veteran’s service.

At the end of his second inaugural address on March 4, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln asked that we remember the obligations our nation has, to those who made the ultimate sacrifice during the Civil War.

His iconic speech, etched in granite at the Lincoln Memorial, still guides those of us privileged to work at VA today:

“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan …”

Those words are the basis of our VA mission to care for our living Veterans and their families. That’s why, later this year, we will memorialize in bronze Lincoln’s charge to the nation at all our VA cemeteries.

From generation to generation, Americans have answered the call to duty from Bunker Hill to Baghdad. In small skirmishes and epic battles, Americans of every generation have stepped forward to fight for freedom when called upon.

And, they are doing so today as they stand guard across our nation and around the world.

May God bless those we honor today, those currently serving America in uniform and all our nation’s Veterans.

###

###

Reporters and media outlets with questions or comments should contact the Office of Media Relations at vapublicaffairs@va.gov

Veterans with questions about their health care and benefits (including GI Bill). Questions, updates and documents can be submitted online.

Contact us online through Ask VA

Veterans can also use our chatbot to get information about VA benefits and services. The chatbot won’t connect you with a person, but it can show you where to go on VA.gov to find answers to some common questions.

Learn about our chatbot and ask a question

Subscribe today to receive these news releases in your inbox.

More from the Press Room

  • Press Statements

    May 1, 2023

    Secretary McDonough discusses a wide range of topics and introduces newly confirmed Under Secretary for Benefits Joshua Jacobs.

  • Press Statements

    August 12, 2022

    I routinely test for COVID-19 every day, and today I tested positive. My symptoms are mild, and I am following my physician’s directions.

  • Press Statements

    August 10, 2022

    “The PACT Act is a historic new law that will help VA deliver for millions of Veterans — and their survivors — by empowering us to presumptively provide care and benefits to Vets suffering from more than 20 toxic exposure-related conditions. It will also bring generations of Veterans into VA health care, which will improve Veteran health outcomes across the board.