WASHINGTON --

During the busy season of military transfers, adjusting to new communities and registering children for school, more than 2,000 museums across the nation will open their doors, free of charge, to service members and their families as a break from the summer challenges, a Defense Department official said today.

Memorial Day, we’re reminded this time of year, was originally called Decoration Day, a day in late May set aside for the adornment of the fallen’s resting places with flowers, flags, endearments.

When I graduated from college, I planned on being the next Diane Sawyer. My hubris took me to a small television station down south where I was a general assignment reporter until one day when the military reporter, Mark Dent, up and quit. I volunteered to fill in. That was 1997, long before The Longest War began.

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Blue chemical lights illuminated the Pacific under a early morning sky as 41 dark figures approached the black waters off San Onofre beach at 4 a.m. and patiently waited in the brisk air for the countdown to honor their fallen comrades to begin May 17.

USS San Antonio, At Sea – U.S. Marines have been at sea since 1775 and the U.S. Navy has been landing Marine forces ashore since the Battle of Nassau when a battalion of Marines led by Capt. Samuel Nicholas landed on the shores of New Providence in the Bahamas, March 3, 1776, during the Revolutionary War.

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - More than 300 local residents attended a memorial dedication at Veterans Memorial Park May 20, 2013, honoring seven Marines from 1st Battalion, 9th Marines who died while training nearby.

Joe Little
Posted: 05/20/2013

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - A new memorial honoring Marines killed in Afghanistan arrived Monday at Camp Pendleton following a lengthy journey.

NAVAL AIR FACILITY EL CENTRO, Calif. -- The 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit will be first MEU to bring GATR’s with them on their Western Pacific Deployment in 2013. No, not the fearsome jagged toothed reptilians and apex predators, but a state-of-the-art communication tool able to rapidly transmit and receive data. Though actual gators would be an epic mascot for the MEU deployment

The commingled remains of 13 fallen service members — mostly Marines — killed in the last armed action of the Vietnam War were laid to rest May 15 at Arlington National Cemetery, Va. The men died in a raid known today as the Mayaguez Incident, which was mounted to save the crew of a civilian container ship highjacked in 1975 by communist Khmer Rouge forces near Cambodia.

Brigadier General Lori Reynolds is in charge of the United States Marine Corps Recruit Depot in Parris Island South Carolina. She says her job in a nutshell is to produce marines, and to do it right. “I think there's a lot of misperceptions out there about what happens at recruit training. Everything that we do has a purpose and at the end of the day we turn regular American citizens into basically trained marines through a transformative process that is going to carry them through their whole enlistment” says Reynolds.

Sara Bryant knew going into the military was something she wanted to do, but what she did not know was the impact she would have on the role of females in the Marine Corps.

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. --

Fighters, big and small, from all over Southern California’s military installations joined together in the 5th annual U.S. Military Pankration Championships at the 52-area fitness center here May 18.

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – Marines serving with 1st Combat Engineer Battalion and 7th Engineer Support Battalion set up an Improved Ribbon Bridge with Bridge Erection Boats and an Armored Vehicle-Launched Bridge as part of the battalion’s continued effort to crosstrain their Marines.

By Gretel C. Kovach
3:19 p.m .May 17, 2013

The Marines fought off a near upset from the Army this week in the 2013 Warrior Games, claiming a fourth Chairman’s Cup and another year of bragging rights as undefeated champion of the athletic competition for troops injured by combat, illness or accidents.

By Gretel C. Kovach
5:59 p.m .May 17, 2013

The 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit returned to Camp Pendleton this week after an eight-month deployment aboard the Peleliu Amphibious Ready Group. The Corps kept its infantry afloat while most Marines fought in the deserts of Iraq or Afghanistan.