Nominate a Veteran for #VeteranOfTheDay

Do you want to light up the face of a special Veteran? Have you been wondering how to tell your Veteran they are special to you? You’re in luck! VA’s #VeteranOfTheDay social media feature is an opportunity to highlight your Veteran and his/her service..

It’s easy to nominate a Veteran. All it takes is an email to newmedia@va.gov with as much of the information as you can put together. Below is an overview of how to put together a great #VeteranOfTheDay package.

Pictures: Everyone loves pictures, so the more and better quality, the better the tribute will be. Try to have a picture of your Veteran in uniform and a picture of them today. If you only have one image of them in uniform that is still helpful, don’t worry. Often times World War II, Korea and Vietnam Servicemembers don’t have many pictures. The images should be larger than 200kb. If you don’t have a photo-editing program and you have the image in a digital form, open it up in PowerPoint and try to make it bigger. If it starts to get grainy before it takes up a third of a standard PowerPoint slide, it probably won’t work. Here is an example of a good quality image and an example of a poor quality image.

Too Small-96kb                Better-260kb                                               Best-500+kb

Biography: What did your Veteran do while they were in uniform? What was their job or military occupational specialty? Also, what work do they do now? What work did they do after they left service? This is a great way to show your Veterans successful transition to civilian life.

Unit: What was your Veteran’s last unit? You can even use your Veteran’s favorite unit or the unit he/she deployed with in support of combat operations. If you’re trying to surprise them, you can always look on their Facebook page for mentions of their unit—especially patches or insignia. You can even look for groups they may belong to or old Veteran buddies who may be able to help. You’re looking for mentions of stuff like 2-2, 5-503rd, Blue Knights, 82nd All the Way, etc.

Deployments: If you know when and where your Veteran served overseas, let us know! Don’t worry though, overseas or combat operations are not required to nominate your Veteran.

Awards and Recognitions: Did your Veteran receive a Bronze Star Medal? Purple Heart? Silver Star? Medal of Honor? Let us know! We want to make sure to recognize their accomplishments. Don’t forget about combat infantry badges, aircrew wings, pathfinder and Special Forces badges.

Honoring our Veterans by nominating them for #VeteranOfTheDay is a great way to say thank you and let them know their service has not been forgotten. You can even request they be honored on certain days, such as birthdays, anniversaries, retirements, you name it! We can’t guarantee any specific date, but will work with you to make it happen if we can.

Want to see some of the previous Veterans we’ve honored for ideas? Search on Facebook and Twitter for the hashtag #VeteranOfTheDay.