Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Dawn    Photo: Department of Veterans Affairs

The National Park Service preserves more than one hundred battlefields, military parks, and historic sites across the country that honor the service of American veterans from nearly every war.  These parks vary and provide important history and tributes to military service members and their heroism.  To find one near you, see the full list of sites here, organized by the war they commemorate.

• In Washington, D.C. there are many — including the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the National World War II Memorial, and the Korean War Veterans Memorial – but there are other lesser known ones too, such as the African American Civil War Memorial, and Battleground National Cemetery.
• There are memorials to some of our lesser known wars, such as Fort Necessity National Battlefield in Pennsylvania commemorating the French & Indian Wars, the Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Site commemorating the Mexican-American War, and even one commemorating the Cold War, Minuteman Missile National Historic Site in South Dakota.
• And there are historic sites and memorials that demonstrate the diversity of our country and its people, including Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park in California, the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site in Alabama, the Nez Perce National Historical Park in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and the Aleutian World War II National Historic Area in Alaska.

Why This Matters: At a time when our country is so divided, a visit to one of the parks or historic sites may help us all to remember what unites us, and of the sacrifice of those who came before us to preserve our democracy, freedom and our way of life.  And it is also important to remember that many of these sites are in need of update and repair.  There is an $11.6 billion dollar backlog of maintenance projects in our national parks.  Think what a Green New Deal could do to repair these important parts of our nation’s military history.  

Photo: National Park Service