Chinese American Citizens Alliance

National Board

In Observance of Memorial Day 2014

This Memorial Day truly provides a needed pause to reflect on this most solemn occasion as the more than a decade old wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has seen over 7,000 American men and women sacrifice their lives are added to the more than one million Americans who gave their all so that other 99.5% of us may live in freedom, exercise our basic civil rights and strive to reach our personal dreams. Yes, less than 0.5% of our fellow Americans have volunteered to devote their energies and sacrifice their lives to the continuous fight to preserve our liberty, freedoms and rights in our United States of America.

Yet this Memorial Day also causes us as the non-volunteers to be appalled at the broken system that exists in our Veterans Administration today where the medical care and treatment for our surviving and returning veterans have been shown to be inaccessible, inadequate and insufficient across the country. While the President and Congress consider what immediate actions need to be taken to immediately correct these grievous and almost inexcusable occurrences, we can do more to show thanks to our best and bravest. Support organizations like the USO, Wounded Warrior and Habitat for Humanity who provide services to our military personnel. Help returning vets find suitable employment in the private sector by having your company provide job postings that encourage the hiring of vets whose training, maturity and experience far exceeds many in the workforce today.

"While there is much we can do for the returning veterans, together with them on this day, we ask our members of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance to also reflect on this National Day of Remembrance to think about those who gave their all so we might have opportunities to be our all as Americans," said National President Ed Gor. "Wherever we are on Memorial Day, I ask that every member participate in the National Moment of Remembrance by pausing for one minute at 3:00 p.m. local time to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.”

"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their Nation." - George Washington