Memorial Day: fulfilling, a sacred obligation: VFW and Ladies Auxiliary members come out in full force on Memorial Day to pay tribute to Americans who died serving their country in wartime - VFW in action: VFW members and Posts demonstrating community service - Veterans of Foreign Wars posts honor Memorial Day - Brief Article

Posts choose many ways to memorialize the nation's war dead. In 2001 in Corapolis, Pa., for instance, members of Post 402 placed 2,000 flags on veterans graves, planted flowers at four different sites and sponsored a Memorial Day parade.

In Toms River, N.J., Post 8885 also staged a parade. Then-Commander John Masterson saw to it that anyone in the parade without a flag was given one to carry.

Here's a sampling of how other Posts celebrated this sacred observance last year:

* Post 10552 in Shawnee, Kan., placed 40 full-size flags at the city's veterans memorial.

* Post 845 in Downington, Pa., donated $1,000 toward the purchase of a 30-by-60-ft. flag to fly in the city park.

* Post 1855 in Dowagiac, Mich., dedicated a Post-constructed memorial to veterans of all wars.

Such events are commonplace in VFW circles all across the country. In Somerset, Pa., members of Post 554 attended a memorial service on March 11 at the Sept. 11 crash site of Flight 93 in rural western Pennsylvania. The next day, members traveled to Windber, Pa., to pay respects to Air Force combat controller Tech. Sgt. John Chapman, one of seven servicemen killed March 4 during Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan.

Also killed in that operation was Sgt. Phillip Svitak of Joplin, Mo. Post 534 in that city held a memorial service and Post 5293, also in Joplin, changed its name in honor of Svitak. In Boulder City, Nev., Post 36 was renamed Matthew Commons Post in honor of the Army Ranger killed in Operation Anaconda.

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