As this year’s Memorial Day approaches, the Blinded Veterans Association (BVA) remembers and celebrates the ultimate sacrifice by men and women who have been willing to lay down their lives in the name of freedom and peace. The magnitude of those sacrifices, and the lifelong impact they have had on families of the fallen, is truly overwhelming. 

As leaders, staff, and members of BVA, we express our heartfelt gratitude for those who have given all or who have been willing to do so. We acknowledge the men and women, past and present, who have stepped forward and, at all costs and with every inherent risk, sworn an oath to support and defend the Constitution and laws against all enemies.

Although our BVA members were able to return home after their military service, many of them did so after considerable sacrifice of their own, including but not limited to their loss of sight on the battlefield or later on due to a service-connected event or exposure. They have been heard saying that they would do it all again if they were called upon to do so.

Many of these same BVA members now make other types of sacrifices—those of time, energy, and means to serve their fellow BVA members with uplifting counsel, encouragement, and direction, and to promote the interests of the organization that has made a difference in thousands of lives for now 79 years. To those who fit this profile, we salute you, we thank you for your service, and wish you a pleasant and meaningful Memorial Day weekend.

In keeping with tradition, this Memorial Day BVA will be represented at an early morning White House breakfast and later on at the 156th National Memorial Day Observance at Arlington National Cemetery. The observance will include a Presidential wreath laying, music by the United States Air Force Band’s Singing Sergeants and the U.S. Coast Guard Band, and remarks by dignitaries from the Executive Branch.

Lawrence Harrison, a BVA member who resides in the Nation’s Capital, will march with the BVA flag in the ceremony’s Parade of Colors. The event will culminate with presentations of wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by an assortment of service organizations, mostly sister Veterans Service Organizations of BVA. An online link to a livestream of the 11am proceedings in their entirety is located here.