This Thursday, 60 Veterans Affairs cemeteries will hold volunteer events as part of Patriot Day, welcoming all who want to honor the fallen from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks by helping restore and beautify the burial places of the nation’s veterans and loved ones.
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, 47 former service members and dependents who died as a result of the attacks are buried or memorialized in national cemeteries, most notably at the Calverton and Long Island National Cemeteries in New York.
The day is meant to honor those fallen, but also the service members, veterans, law enforcement officers, firefighters and other first responders who served on 9/11 as well as those who have given their lives for their country since.
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“VA cemeteries are an ideal place to reflect on the heroism and sacrifice of 9/11,” said VA Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs Sam Brown, an Afghanistan War veteran who was seriously wounded in 2008 in Kandahar by a roadside bomb. “This Patriot Day, we invite all Americans to visit participating VA cemeteries, where they can help honor and preserve the legacies of the victims, first responders, service members and families touched by 9/11.”
Volunteers will clean headstones and participate in other activities, according to the VA.
The event marks the seventh year that Carry the Load, a nonprofit founded by two Navy SEALs to promote remembrance of fallen heroes on Memorial Day, has partnered with the VA’s National Cemetery Administration to support the events on 9/11.
“On Patriot Day, we encourage Americans to honor the memory of those lost on 9/11 by serving in their communities and sharing stories of the first responders and military who sacrificed to keep us safe,” former Navy SEAL Stephen Holley, the co-founder and CEO of Carry the Load, said in a statement. “Together, we can make a positive impact and show our gratitude for those who sacrificed so much for our freedom.”
The VA website has information on which cemeteries are participating. To register as a volunteer, check out the Carry the Load website. Cleaning supplies and other materials will be provided, and there is no cost to participate.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed on Sept. 11, 2001, when 19 al-Qaida terrorists hijacked four U.S. airliners and flew them into the World Trade Center towers in New York City; the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.; and a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.
Volunteers have dedicated Sept. 11 as a day to engage in charitable service since the first anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks. But Congress established Sept. 11 as a National Day of Service and Remembrance in 2009. That same year, President Barack Obama amended President George W. Bush’s proclamation designating Sept. 11 as Patriot Day also as a day of service and remembrance.
The VA manages 156 cemeteries nationwide and funds an additional 124 state, territorial and tribal veterans cemeteries. Veterans who are eligible for VA burial benefits include all who were discharged under something other than dishonorable conditions; spouses or surviving spouses of eligible veterans; dependent children; and some others.
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