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It's Memorial Day in the United States. A day to remember soldiers who have died in service to the nation.
But on this day, many question whether Americans still care? And if so, how do they plan to show it?
We're analyzing coverage of the holiday from WCVS, Veterans Today, WCBS, the Washington Post and CNN.
First to WCBS-TV in New York which notes, how some began the grim task of honoring those who've died in Iraq and Afghanistan after a Sunday church service.
"Immediately following the service, the vets carried a basket of yellow ribbons out of the church with the names of U.S. military killed in Iraq and Afghanistan during the past week. The names were then tied on the church's landmark Fifth Avenue fence."
And while there are Memorial Day functions across the country, many will be sparsely attended. The website, Veterans Today asks the question, does anyone really care about Memorial Day anymore?
"Many Americans nowadays have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day. At many cemeteries, the graves of the fallen are increasingly ignored, neglected."
Some are choosing to commemorate the fallen in lavish displays of patriotism. Boston's WCVB-TV reports a field of flags covers Boston Common to represent every Massachusetts citizen who's died at war in the last 100 years.
MAN: "It's not about traffic and cookouts, it's about remembering those whose lives were lost."
REPORTER: "It is an awesome site this sea of patriotic colors, but the reality can stop you cold. Each represents a heartbeat silenced by war."
The Boston Globe James Carroll says, Memorial Day isn't just for the dead. It's for the living who carry something in their hearts, minds and souls — for a lifetime.
"When citizens go willingly to their deaths for a civic cause, the cause is vindicated — if by nothing else. Public feelings of grief and loss become a source of living cohesion, which is the ground of patriotism."
ABC News notes they also leave behind families — children — like Megan, who's father died in the line of duty.
"Megan, just ten years old at the time, tried to take her own life. (Megan) My mom and my sister, almost lost me three times. I overdosed, and I was cutting myself. (DeNis) Now 14, Megan has found a place to heal, in TAPS. (nats) Let me see a picture of you with your dad. (DeNis) A place that brings families of fallen soldiers together."
In The Washington Post, E.J. Dionne says, the nation needs Memorial Day not just to remember patriotic acts of sacrifice, but why it is done.
"The isolation of our military is part of a larger Balkanization of our nation into political and social classes that have little empathy for each other. But history tells us that the honor we accord our veterans is closely linked to the respect and solidarity we express toward each other as fellow citizens of a democracy."
CNN has set up a special page to honor the 6,000 coalition forces who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of them, from the United States. Showing not just where the soldiers were from in the United States, but the circumstances under which they died overseas. You can find a link in our transcript section.
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