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Volunteers salute wreaths at the Juneau Memorial Day Service hosted by American Legion Auke Bay Post #25 at Alaskan Memorial Park on Monday, May 26, 2025. (Ellie Ruel / Juneau Empire)

News

It’s Memorial Day for many, but just one of many memorial days for some who were in battle

Tributes at annual ceremonies in Juneau note major historic achievement and unseen individual sufferings.

Wreath bearers present wreaths for fallen comrades, brothers and sisters in arms during a Memorial Day ceremony at Alaskan Memorial Park on Monday. Laying wreaths on the graves of fallen heroes is a way to honor and remember the sacrifices made. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)

News

Traditional Memorial Day ceremonies offer new ways to ‘never forget’ those who served

New installations at memorial sites, fresh words of reminder shared by hundreds gathering in Juneau.

John Phillips (left) and Roger Sheakley salute the colors during the opening of the Southeast Alaska Native Veterans’ observance of Veterans Day on Saturday at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Trio of observances for Juneau’s veterans share tributes in distinctly different ways

Annual events honor those serving during wars, seeking peace and preserving Alaska Native heritage.

Juneau Veterans for Peace President Craig Wilson, left, watches a procession of fellow veterans and others ring the Liberty Bell replica in front of the Alaska State Capitol on Nov. 11, 2022, during an annual Armistice Day observation. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire File)

Neighbors

Three annual events honoring veterans scheduled Saturday

Armistice Day bell ringing at Capitol; Veterans Day events at Centennial Hall and EPH.

Chuck Caldwell, who served in the Army during the Vietnam War, lays a wreath on behalf of Veterans of Foreign Wars Taku Post 5559 at the base of the flagpole at Evergreen Cemetery in observance of Memorial Day on Monday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Remembering the true meaning of sacrifice

Memorial Day observations in Juneau see hundreds pay tribute to those who serve and persevere

The Alaska State Senate unanimously passes its first bill of the current legislative session Wednesday, sponsored by state Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau, lower left. The bill makes disabled military veterans residing in Alaska eligible for free trapping licenses in addition to hunting and fishing, and makes free service-related licenses for all three activities permanent instead of annual. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Senate quickly falls for veterans’ traps

Juneau lawmaker’s bill giving disabled vets lifetime trapping licenses is first to pass floor vote.

Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire Arsenio “Pastor” Credo and other Alaska Native veterans listen to a presentation Thursday afternoon how to apply for up to 160 acres of the more than 27 million acres of public land available to Alaska Native veterans who were unable to apply for their acres of in-state land due to serving during the Vietnam War.

News

Millions of acres are available for Vietnam-era Alaska Native veterans, but many in Southeast don’t want it

‘We want Southeast Alaska.’

Rob Smith, left, of the American Legion Auke Bay Post 25, and Dan McCrummen, quartermaster of Veterans of Foreign Wars Taku Post 5559, place wreaths Sunday on either side of a memorial for the soldiers killed aboard the USS Juneau after it was sunk by torpedoes on Nov. 13, 1942. The current memorial site for the ship’s namesake town debuted 10 years ago after it was relocated from its original site near Marine Park. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

USS Juneau memorial honors survivors, sacrifice

Gov. Dunleavy, local veterans among those paying tribute on 80th anniversary of ship’s sinking

David Noon, Ron Carver, Mike Wong and John Kent sit together for a roundtable discussion at the University of Southeast Alaska Saturday afternoon to talk about their personal experiences with the war in Vietnam and the traumas and lasting impacts it had on their lives. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

News

Veterans speak candidly about their experiences during Vietnam War at roundtable

“I did not want to kill people,” said Mike Wong, one of the speakers at the event.

Southeast Alaska Native Veterans carry flags as they walk to the stage at the Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall on Veterans Day Friday. A ceremony and luncheon were hosted in commemoration and honor of those who served and continue to serve in the U.S. military. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

News

‘It’s good that we can all come together’: Veterans Day observances held in Juneau

Three events took place in the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

A Coast Guard color guard presents the colors during a Memorial Day ceremony held by the Veterans of Foreign Wars at Evergreen Cemetery on May 30, 2022. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)

News

Veteran groups hold Memorial Day ceremonies

Sunny Memorial Monday.

This map, provided by Alaska Natives Without Land, shows possible federal land grants for the landless community of Tenakee Springs, one of five communities in Alaska not granted land by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971. (Screenshot)

News

50 years after ANCSA, some still fighting for land

The five landless communities and Vietnam veterans were left landless by the act.

Ivan Nance, a Coast Guard veteran, is one of the people enrolled in Southeast Alaska Independent Living’s Veterans’ Options for Independence, Choice and Empowerment, a program designed to give more control to veterans over how their caregiving is delivered. (Courtesy photo / Ivan Nance)

News

SAIL seeking to expand high-level veteran care program

The program gives veterans with a high need of care more control over their own affairs.

Juneau residents and veterans gathered on Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021 for Together with Juneau Veterans’ first Walk with a Vet event across the Douglas Bridge. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)

News

Veteran suicide prevention group holds inaugural march

A walk across the bridge with good conversation is a little easier than 22km with a packed ruck.

Veterans and active duty servicemembers carry the totem pole on July 24, 2021 as hundreds gathered in Hoonah for its raising. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)

News

Hoonah honors veterans with totem pole, future memorial park

From the Alaska Territorial Guard to today’s servicemembers, the Southeast has a legacy of service.

Contractors raise a totem pole honoring veterans of the armed services into place in Hoonah on July 24, 2021, in a ceremony attended by hundreds. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)

News

Photos: Totem pole honoring veterans raised in Hoonah

Hundreds gather for ceremony.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks at a ceremony for Alaska Native Veterans from the Vietnam era at the Walter Soboleff Building in downtown Juneau on May 5, 2021. Dunleavy announced the state filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Biden administration for what Dunleavy says is illegally keeping restrictions in place on federal lands in Alaska. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

State sues feds over continuing land restrictions

Veteran lands available, DOI says.

Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5559 junior vice commander David Carroll, nearer, and post service officer Tom Armstrong, further, salute during a Memorial Day ceremony at Evergreen Cemetery on May 31, 2021. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)

News

Rain does little to dampen larger-than-usual Memorial Day ceremony

Many gathered at Evergreen Cemetery to honor America’s war dead.

Craig Wilson, president of the Juneau chapter of Veterans for Peace, stands in front of the bell at the Alaska State Capitol as Juneau residents prepare to ring it in honor of Armistice Day, as Veterans Day was previously known on Nov. 11, 2020. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)

News

Group commemorates Armistice Day, embraces peace

They decry the spectacle they say Veterans Day has become.

Coalition helps VA start suicide prevention program

News

Coalition helps VA start suicide prevention program

The program will be VA backed and veteran-led and informed.