The Department of Veterans Affairs has assembled a useful collection of information about the Memorial Day observance on its Web site. The collection includes histories, instructions for flag display, a recording of Taps, an official 2008 poster, veteran statistics, the President’s proclamation, and a list of events in the Nation’s Capital. We also include here, the joint Memorial Day message from Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley. They write: “Congress has asked Americans everywhere to pause at 3 p.m. on Monday to observe a National Moment of Remembrance. Whether you find yourself on or off base at that moment, we ask for the Airmen of the world’s greatest Air Force, and their families, to pause in reverence for our fallen.”
Secretary of Defense Austin Lloyd III met with his counterparts from Australia, Japan and the Philippines to discuss bolstering defense ties on May 2. The discussion included plans for joint F-35 exercises with Japan and Australia in the coming years.