The 37th annual PBS National Memorial Day Concert will air live on Sunday, May 24, as the nation confronts the accelerating loss of its foundational generations. Gary Sinise will honor 102-year-old Navy veteran Chuck Kohler, one of 11 remaining survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack 85 years ago, on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol.
Sinise stated, "We're losing 1,000 World War II veterans every single day, so time is short," underscoring the rapid demographic shift impacting the nation's living memory of its greatest conflicts. He added that this concert represents the "nation's opportunity, on live TV, to honor their service," noting that such opportunities are "increasingly special."
Fading Guardians of the Nation
The concert is being held during the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, a period when the meaning of national sacrifice is increasingly debated. Producer Michael Colbert, whose late father Jerry Colbert started the concert in 1989, highlighted the significance of figures like Kohler, stating, "Chuck was part of the Greatest Generation that saved the world. We're blessed to still have him with us."
Kohler’s story, to be recounted by Breaking Bad star Jonathan Banks, details his enlistment at age 16 on April 3, 1941. On December 7, the first Japanese bomb hit near his hangar, injuring him with glass. Kohler and another sailor mounted a .50-caliber machine gun on an American plane, firing into attacking aircraft. He later witnessed the surrender of a Japanese garrison in August 1945 after deployment to the Marshall Islands Pacific campaign. Visiting Pearl Harbor 68 years after the attack, Kohler vowed to continue remembrance for his lost comrades, lighting a beacon each December 7 on California's Mount Diablo to preserve their memory.
Elite Detachment and National Duty
Despite the profound national significance, Sinise asserted, "This is not a political thing. It doesn't matter who is in the White House, the Senate or the House," adding, "We're divided over many things, but everyone can recognize that we have a responsibility to recognize the men and women who put their lives on the line to defend us." The concert is described as a nonpartisan event that has never hosted the sitting U.S. president, and President Donald Trump will not attend this year.
Retired U.S. Air Force colonel Rob Maness, a combat veteran and 9/11 Pentagon survivor, offered a different perspective in a Fox News opinion piece, emphasizing that Memorial Day is not about those who came home. Maness, who enlisted in 1979 and served for more than three decades, stated he buried friends lost in Iraq, Afghanistan, and on September 11, 2001, when American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the Pentagon, an event marking its 24th anniversary. He recounted surviving that day while many colleagues did not, their names now etched on the Pentagon Memorial.
The Cost of Freedom and the Call to Remember
Maness stressed that these were not "faceless casualties of war" but "airmen, pilots, NCOs, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers and friends who answered the call to defend the Republic and the Constitution." He wrote that Memorial Day is about "those who did not come home," representing "the empty seat at the dinner table" and "the sacred debt owed to every Gold Star family." He asserted that the service and sacrifice of every American who died in uniform, from the Revolutionary War to Afghanistan, deserve "unapologetic gratitude."
He further stated, "They did not die for political parties or fleeting causes. They died for the idea that this nation, imperfect as we are, remains the greatest force for freedom the world has ever known." Maness urged, "To the American people: honor them not just with parades and cookouts, but with the quiet resolve to live lives worthy of their sacrifice. Teach your children the value of duty. Stand up for the principles they defended. Support those who still serve and those who bear the invisible wounds of war." He concluded, "They gave everything. The least we can do is remember."
The concert will also feature musical acts by Mickey Guyton, Jamey Johnson, a Marine Corps Reserve veteran, and Alan Jackson. The National Symphony Orchestra, under conductor Jack Everly, will perform pieces including two written by Sinise's composer son, McCanna Anthony "Mac" Sinise, who died two years ago in 2024. Oscar winner Melissa Leo will recount the actions of retired Lt. Gen. Patricia D. Horoho during the 24th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon, while Noah Wyle will bring militiaman Joseph Plumb Martin's story from the 1776 American Revolution to life.