. During a speech , the president said the courage , unselfishness and devotion to duty of the servicemen and women who gave their lives is what has sustained the country . President Obama also said that Memorial Day is about the families who have lost loved ones serving in the military . The wife of a fallen service member said she sees Memorial Day as a chance to celebrate her husband 's life . NICKI BUNTING , WIDOW OF FALLEN SERVICEMAN : I want everyone to realize that these are n't just graves ; they are n't just numbers . They 're real people , and they had real families . They had wives and husbands and children and parents and siblings and friends . And so , that 's what today is about , just celebrating their life and making sure that everyone knows that these are real people that we 've lost . And so , when I get to talk about my husband , I love to laugh and smile when I talk about him and really share the great guy he was . AZUZ : For the past 40 years , the 3rd U.S. Infantry
-LRB- CNN Student News -RRB- -- May 31 , 2011 Download PDF maps related to today 's show : • Arlington National Cemetery • Joplin , Missouri • Texas Transcript THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT . THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED . CARL AZUZ , CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR : Back from the Memorial Day weekend , I 'm Carl Azuz and this is CNN Student News ! It 's a short week for us . It 's also our last week of the school year , so let 's go ahead and get started . First Up : Remembering the Fallen AZUZ : First up , Americans pause to honor service members who gave everything they had . Memorial Day is a tribute to the men and women who lost their lives while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces . Ceremonies were held around the country yesterday , President Obama helping lead the ones at Arlington National Cemetery . He laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns and later visited Arlington 's Section 60 ; it 's a site that 's primarily for soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan