2013 Honorees

The Ultimate Challenge: It's About Time

To rightfully honor those who have made the Ultimate Sacrifice

Not that long ago, Tom Hanks and Tom Brokaw, used their fame to stir a nation. While Hanks was researching his now famous role in Saving Private Ryan, he realized the disparity and lack of national memorial for our WWII veterans. About the same time Brokaw released his best-selling book declaring WWII-era Americans "the Greatest Generation." He too noted the WWII memorial gap. Both used press tour time to call attention to something that deepened the wounds for those who paid a grave price for our country. Despite land reserved on the National Mall grounds and an active campaign in progress for years, money was sorely lacking to build a fitting tribute. Both men with the help of other high profile notables issued a national challenge calling for funds. Soon their collective "it's about time" whisper became a roar. And there it began... a ground-swell of activity and in short order the funding goals were met and the memorial stands proud today.

Surely you are aware that each year, many in EMS and the air medical communities make the Ultimate Sacrifice, losing their lives in the service of others. You likely know that over the years EMS and air medical Line of Duty Deaths (LODD) total several hundred. Perhaps you are not aware that there is no national memorial for either group. It's about time. While we are certainly no Tom Hanks or Tom Brokaw, we hope to stir a nation as well, and reach all of you somewhere down in your soul. We owe our EMS community better than this. We know collectively the heart of EMS and air medicine is bigger than this.

Land has been donated for both the National EMS Memorial and the Air Medical Memorial. Both groups are organized, poised, and ready to build not only physical memorials, but also networks to support families and survivors, as well as programs to promote safety, health, and resilience for our EMS professionals from the ground to the air. It's about time. The passion is there... all that is lacking is the funding to support these important efforts that will ultimately benefit everybody in EMS, as well as the communities we serve. It's about time... will you join us?

We know emergency medical folks need deadlines and love a challenge. So it is in that spirit we issue The Ultimate Challenge: It's About Time!

The challenge: Each EMS agency in the country is challenged to raise $1000 and each air medical program is challenged to raise $3000 by June 30, 2013. That's not much time, but you save lives for a living, we know you can do it! Reach out to the community you serve... hold a bake sale, do a car wash, pass the hat, sell donuts, or, come up with your own team idea to get it done... be creative! In fact, creativity will be recognized and rewarded! If this challenge is successful, both memorials could be built in the coming year. Don't you agree... it's about time?

Take the challenge! Sign up now by clicking on www.ultimate-challenge.org

Our Mission

The mission of the National EMS Memorial Service is to honor and remember those men and women of America's Emergency Medical Services who have given their lives in the line of duty, and to recognize the sacrifice they have made in service to their communities and their fellow man. Each year, hundreds of family members, friends, coworkers, EMS and political leaders, and colleagues from EMS agencies from around the nation gather together to remember our honorees. The National EMS Memorial is not a single event but rather a weekend of events centered around the ceremony known as the National EMS Memorial Service. Please click on The Weekend in the menu above to learn more about these other activities. The 21st Annual National EMS Memorial Service will take place on June 22, 2013 at 6:00 pm MDT (GMT -6:00) at the Pikes Peak Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Please take a moment at that time to join us in remembering our fallen colleagues. Visitors are invited to use the The Service and The Memorial links above to learn more about the National EMS Memorial Service and the "Tree of Life".

Using This Site

Our site design allows visitors to easily learn about and interact with the National EMS Memorial Service.

Using the menus near the top and on the upper left side of each page, visitors may now transverse the entire National EMS Memorial Service site, learning who we are, what we do and how we do it. There is information for family members, agency members, other interested EMS providers, and the general public. You can even help support the memorial by making an online donation or purchase from our gift shop!

As part of the recent redesign, we have endeavored to make it easier for those who must interact with us to do so electronically. We have updated all of our forms to allow completion and submission of most electronically. The new forms are Adobe Acrobat based, allowing users to download and complete them locally on their own computers, and once done, submit the data to us electronically with the click of a button. Even the forms that require the hard copies be returned to us may still be completed online and printed.