Free admission to National Parks for Veterans Day on Nov. 11

In honor of current and former servicemen and women, entrance to all of America’s 393 national parks will be free for all visitors on Veterans Day, November 11. Besides the fee waiver, national parks will offer opportunities for visitors to pay tribute to the members of our country’s armed forces.

For example, on Veterans Day, the World War II Memorial on the National Mall will host a ceremony to honor all of America’s female veterans of the war as well as a wreath-laying to honor members of the 82nd Airborne Division who died in the conflict. Also in Washington, DC, at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Veterans Day will be observed with speeches, speakers, a color guard and a wreath-laying ceremony, all in honor of all those who served and sacrificed during the Vietnam War and America’s other wars, including those in Afghanistan and Iraq.

After sunset on Saturday, November 13, 2010, participants in the evening program at Poplar Grove National Cemetery in Virginia will place a candle at the grave of each of the more than 6,000 soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice for the Union in the Civil War. This luminary event, held by the staff of Petersburg National Battlefield, will include the music of bagpipes and selected stories of people who laid down their lives for their beliefs.