Veterans For Peace Memorial Day Statement

This Memorial Day, Veterans For Peace is reminding the public that the human cost of war is more than human soldiers.

But also the people who are caught in the crossfire.

As veterans, we know the lasting impacts that U.S. militarism wreaks on our society, with a culture of violence and glorification of the military and war. U.S. militarism and the war industry, lavishly funded by the U.S. government, hold war or the threat of war as a higher priority than the security of our children, our communities, and our global environment and climate. As Veterans For Peace, we expose those costs of war. Peace at Home, Peace Abroad is more than a slogan – it is our commitment to work against militarized violence and for peace.

Veterans For Peace Memorial Day Statement

This Memorial Day we remember all who have died in war and understand that no one wins in war. Many of us have been personally touched by war. But we must also extend that mourning. We remember the civilian victims, and their families. Honoring and remembering some deaths while ignoring others not only perpetuates war, but also ignores the moral injuries of war, a significant cause of veteran suicide.

Veterans For Peace is made up of military veterans, family members and friends who are joined by our pledge to serve the cause of world peace and abolish war. We bring a different message to Memorial Day than the themes usually promoted by popular media, the government and traditional veterans’ organizations.

We do not seek to glorify either warriors or war. Rather, Veterans For Peace seeks to educate the public about the folly of war and the costs of war – human, economic, political, environmental/climate. On Memorial Day, VFP members march in parades, lay wreaths, give talks and speeches, recite poetry, and vigil to honor U.S. service members who died in and as a result of war, as well as all the civilian victims of war.

There are people who profit from war, mainly those who invest in the war industry or the oil sector. But the veterans and civilians who survive war suffer for the rest of their lives. And the entire society is robbed of trillions of tax dollars which could be spent on jobs, education, healthcare, infrastructure and renewable energy.

Veterans For Peace has commemorated Memorial Day every year to remember the true costs of war.

Our message for Memorial Day is to remember all who have died in war and to understand that no one wins.  We understand that those who fight the wars gain the least from them and those who send us to war gain the most from war. There are many people who either profit from war or are misled by war mongers and profiteers. These are the people who seek to block our message to question war and to work for peace.

New Resources

Below please find two new resources for Memorial Day:

• One is a flyer talking about all those who die in wars, civilian and military alike, both sides of the conflicts. This can be printed at 8.5×11 and has a QR code that goes to the VFP website.
• The other is a banner. This can be printed at 6×2, which is easily carried by two people, or 9×3, which is better when you have at least three people, or if you have somewhere you can hang it up in front of a stage or something. You can get reasonably priced fabric and vinyl banners from halfpricebanners.com, and if you put in promo code VFP123, you will get 10% off! Be sure to allow a couple of weeks for production–otherwise you will end up paying a lot for rush shipping.

We will exercise our right to participate in Memorial Day Events

Veterans For Peace is a veteran organization with members who have served from WWII to the current era. Yet there are organizations and government officials who seek to block VFP members’ freedom of expression and participation in Memorial Day observances.

Not all members of Veterans For Peace seek to be present in public events honoring veterans, because the events tend to be a platform to venerate war and spread militarism. However a significant number of members choose to participate by providing an alternative message of peace and nonviolence. We seek to honor the dead by telling the horrible truth about war in an effort to protect the living. VFP will not be intimidated by efforts to block member participation and we will take all steps necessary to participate in any public event members consider appropriate.