On this Memorial Day we are honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. I hope everyone knows and understands this. And if you’re wondering how many have died over time, keeping our country and citizens free, there is a lot of data you can find. At morning Mass today our priest recommended saying one decade of the rosary for our fallen soldiers. I intend to do so.

On a related topic, I am seeing social media posts including the number of suicides of our veterans. It is a big number and again, you can find sources and studies from different time periods and definitions. Here’s a current story about this topic and I think we should keep these veterans in mind today also.

The photo above comes from a 2011 display at The Buffalo Chip Campground during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. It includes a wall of honor with the names of our military killed in the Vietnam War and lost in action.