Today is Memorial Day, looked on as the start of the summer season, and a time for family gatherings and sporting events.
But the true meaning of the day is underlined by the continuing sacrifices made by U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The first official observance of Memorial Day was on May 30, 1868, ordered by General John Logan, when flowers were placed on the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.
From the Civil War through Vietnam, some 566,000 U.S. service personnel died in combat, more than half of them in World War II.
Across the U.S., there are just under 23 million veterans of the armed forces.
