you are looking live at the scene at vietnam veterans memorial adjacent to the national mall in washington, d.c. later this hour, president obama will arrive to take part in ceremonies marking the 50th anniversary of the start of the vietnam war. the president will be accompanied by first lady michelle obama, by vice president joe biden and his wife jill. we will have that will ceremony for you live. just a few hours ago, the president took part in a solemn memorial day ceremony at arlington national cemetery here laying a wreath at the tomb of the unnew orleans. this was the 144th observance of memorial day at arlington, the nation's most hallowed ground.

hello, everyone. i'm chris jansing. welcome to our special memorial day coverage. on this memorial day, mitt romney is in san diego with the republican's party's last presidential candidate john mccain. they're at an event billed as a memorial day tribute at the veterans museum and memorial center. nbc campaign garrett haake is traveling with the campaign if san diego for us. this is a day, garrett, where both sides like to say this is not about politics, but it is hard to miss the symbolism of mitt romney being with arguably one of the most decorated and best knowns living u.s. veterans. >> reporter: absolutely, chris. you're seeing folks begin to file in here. this could be one of the largest turnouts for a romney campaign event that i've covered. they're expecting as many as 5,000 people here today. obviously a big veterans community here with both favl and marine bases in and around the san diego area. but never miss an opportunity to

have get a little bit of the message out. the romney campaign also released a tribute web video this morning aimed at veterans, as well. in addition to celebrating memorial day in a way that that's meant to by giving tribute to the veterans. >> it comes at a time when we saw a new pole out from gallup saying that mitt romney is leading significantly over barack obama with veterans. that seems to be the difference when you look at the poll overall, it's pretty much neck and neck, but the lead in men can be attributed very much to this veterans group. it is not an insignificant number, is it, garrett in. >> reporter: no, absolutely not. you know, those gallup tracking polls tend to waiver quite a bit. romney has staked out a fairly consistent position on military affairs across this campaign saying he wants to expand the nation's armed forces, build more ships, have more active duty troops. his positions go to the core of

a number of those military issues. he's a little bit more vague about his plans to increase or improve veterans care. that's a rel topic on the stump and i suspect we'll hear some of it here today, as well. >> this is the unfiofficial sta of summer. summer tends to be a downtime for campaigns. they used to spend this time gearing up to get to the conventions. i'm guessing there's not going to be a downtime for mitt romney in the coming few months. >> we're looking at a heavy period of fund-raising right now, chris, both last week and again this week, major fund-raising stops for governor romney along the post. we're expecting several stops just up and down the california coast later this week, not a state expected to be competitive at all in the general election, but still a lot of money to be found here and in las vegas, tomorrow, for a big dollar fund-raiser with donald trump at the hotel and casino or the hotel that he operates there. >> garrett haake who has been on campaign trail with mitt romney.

thank you so much, garrett. we mentioned that in about 45 minutes from now, the president will arrive at vietnam veterans memorial on the national mall marking the beginning of the national commemoration of the vietnam war's 50th anniversary. nbc's kristen welker is at the white house for us. tell us a little bit about the plan today. >> well, certainly going to be an emotional event today. president obama will be joined by the first lady, secretary of defense leon panetta will speak. of course, president obama will speak. there will be a flyover once the ceremony concludes. there they will be honoring the 58,000 american who's did not come home from the vietnam war. in listening tora, president obama made about this day, he said the nation did not honor its veterans from the vietnam war in the way it should have and that's going to change hans been changing under his leadership. you talked about the fact that this is certainly a day to honor

veter veterans, those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. as you also mentioned, political significance, not far away from these events the president pointing out his outreach to veterans and also some of his foreign policy skews. we heard him talk about that during his comments at arlington national cemetery when you talked about drawing down the wars in iraq and afghanistan. and as you've been reporting, the veterans vote is significant. in that gallup poll, it shows that 13% of voters are veterans. president obama lost the veterans vote to john mccain by ten points in 2008 so he's certainly trying to court some of those voters as is mitt romney. that's something we'll be seeing in the coming days and weeks. >> as we wait for the president to arrive at vietnam memorial in about an hour, give us a sense of what his week looks like ahead. >> busy week with some interesting things taking place. tomorrow, president obama will award the presidential medal of freedom to a number of people,

including former secretary of state madeleine albright, music legend bob dylan, as well as astronaut john glenn to name just a few. then on thursday, the bushes will be back at the white house. former president george w. bush, laura bush here for the unveiling of their portrait. and then on friday, president obama travels to minnesota where he will continue to press congress on his to do list so he will highlight one of the key parts of his to do list and talk about that in minnesota. then of course, some campaigning as well including in chicago where he'll pend the night on friday. we'll be tracking all of that for you and bring you all the highlights. >> i'm trying to figure out what the conversation might be like between madeleine albright and bob dylan. she might be a dylan fan, right? >> if only you could be a fly on the wall or close to that conversation. it certainly should be an interesting one. >> i bet she is a dylan fan.

>> yeah. well, let me ask you the same question i was talking to garrett about, which is that the campaigns -- we've been saying this is a campaign unlike any other. it is going to be the most expensive campaign in history. and what is the president's summer shaping up like? we saw a big article today about how much so much of his time because of the demands of fund-raising are going to be devoted to the campaign and to raising money. >> absolutely. i can tell you just from covering him, chris, his travel has already picked up significantly. campaigning already becoming a huge part of his week's in terms of covering him. and if you talk to advisers on his campaign, they will tell you that the one thing that concerns them most are the republican leaning super pacs which are far outpacing their democratic counterparts. they see fund-raising really as one of the most important things they have to do right now.

the president certainly last week had a number of fund-raisers. this week he will have fund-raisers and we expect that to continue and to ramp up as the summer goes on. >> kristen welker, thanks very much. looks like a beautiful day in washington. gorgeous in new york city. but not so in every part of the country. beryl has been downgraded to a tropical depression but soaking parts of the northeast today particularly along the florida and georgia coasts. that has raised concerns about potential flooding. jim cantore joins me from saint simon's island, georgia, where it looks nicer than it was the last time we spoke. give us a sense what we're expecting here today. >> that's the whole story. if you come to me in one hour, i could be getting one of those heavy bands of rain. next hour we could be dry. right now we're in a drying mode which is obviously fine by me. but folks are getting out and enjoying the water. i don't recommend too many people getting here. the tide is starting to come in

now. you can see the kite border. he is flying because of the sustained on shore winds at 25 miles per hour. he's got quite a ride going there, going back and forth along the beaches as the kite is obviously catching the wind and thus pulling him along at a pretty fast rate of speed. that's the thrill of all that. a couple surf borders out. the water's a little sloppy right now for surfing. but really, we talked to the emergency manager. he said yim, all in all this island has fared pretty well but we want to keep people off the beaches and that's the key. heck, it's not just here, all the way down to flagler county in florida, hundreds of people over the last couple of days pulled from the water because of the dangerous rip currents with the approach of this on coming storm, the strongest we think in this country in may we have on record which is kind of amazing when you think about all the storms that have touched our coastlines to, have one be the strongest one for may is a big

deal. power is coming back online. at its height 40,000 in jacksonville, now down below 20,000. here on the georgia coast, below 6,000 at this time. back to you. >> jim cantore, thank you. and let's take a look again live pictures from vietnam veterans memorial. coming up this hour, president obama arrives to attend a ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of the war. we'll bring you his comments live. first, i'll be talking to a marine corporal who was severely injured by an ied how a special organization is helping to reconnect him with his family. it's very important to understand how math and science kind of makes the world work. in high school, i had a physics teacher by the name of mr. davies. he made physics more than theoretical, he made it real for me. we built a guitar, we did things with electronics and mother boards. that's where the interest in engineering came from. so now, as an engineer,

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>> we are waiting for president obama to arrive at vietnam veterans mempal in washington. he will mark the 50th anniversary of the start of the war andpy tribute to all the americans who served there. we have that for you live in our next hour. on this memorial day, we are joined by two special guests. lindsay kin is executive director of luke's wings. the unique organization dedicated to uniting wounded service members with their families and corporal christian brown is a u.s. marine from mumford, tennessee severely injured when he stepped on an improvised explosive device in southern afghanistan last december and has been battling to recover ever since. good morning, good afternoon. happy memorial day to both of. >> you good morning. >> thank you. >> lindsay, what's the idea behind luke's wings? >> first, chris, willet me say thanks so much for having us. we are always happy to talk about luke's wings especially so today on such a patriotic holiday. thank you for that. >> a pleasure. >> luke's wings is an organization dedicated to raising money to provide airline tickets for wounded warriors and tear families and military

hospitals across the country. we believe in doing what we can to keep the families of our heroes with them as they recover. the rehabilitation process is much longer, years longer than most people realize. and it creates a ripple effect. a financial and emotional ripple effect on our families that need not be there. so luke's wing steps in and tries to take care of one of the largest financial line items in the recovery process. which is keeping the families together. as an organization, we do one thing and i think we're excellent at it. >> corporal, let me ask you a little bit about your experience. and it obviously your injuries have been significant. you lost both legs, a finger. have you countless shrapnel wounds, internal injuries. give us a sense of what your recovery has been like. >> it's been a long hard road actually. and to be honest with you, you know, the help of that organization is has given me a morale boost and you know, when

you first wake up, you have the hardest time because you have to come to that realization, my life's not going to be what it used to be like. once you get that understanding and most of the time depression sets in, and you know, you start to think and see all the pictures of what you looked like before and how you are now and you feel like you're marred. and you know, you're alone. you feel like you're alone in what you're going through. luke's wings has helped me a lot bringing my family and friends in, and you know, i've had a really good experience with that organization. people from that organization have become good friends with my parents and befriended them and have taken them out to eat in plays and got their mind off what's going on with my situation and i couldn't be more grateful to be honest with you. >> could you express to me what it meant to you when you were able to be have your mom and your dad by your side?

when you were able to have friends there with you. at a time that is so difficult most of us can't even fathom it to be honest. >> yes, ma'am. the biggest thing for me was when i first woke up, i think that i thought that i was still there. i was in a coma for a month in the hospital. so i thought i was still in theater at first. and it took me a minute to snap out of, you know, what was going on and gearing up in my head you know, and by seeing those friendly faces and by hearing those voices talk to me as i slept and you know as i was continuing to get better and it just helped me calm down and it really brought me back. that brought me back home. so -- >> tell us what your prognosis is now. what are you working on and what are your hopes for the future? >> well, the end result is to walk again. i'm working on getting my prosthetics. i'm on what you call shorties.

it's really funny because the legs are only a foot and a half long so you look like a little munch kin walking around the gym. they're basically for balance and stuff like that. once you get that, you start to graduate through your other limbs. till you're the height you want to be or where you were before you got hit, that's the end result. where i'm at right now in my recovery is i'm learning new things every day, how to transfer from the bed to my chair. back and forth. how to retake a shower, how to put things that are going to be within my reach when i need them. you know, just everything that was simplistic before is you know has become a challenge. so what i'm doing right now is relearning life actually. >> well, it's a remarkable story. lindsay, can you give us a sense of what you hear from so many people like corporal brown about what this organization has done for them? >> i feel like i have the luckiest job in the world because i'm surrounded by such wonderful humble greatful

people. we're lucky people to be able to bring their families with them. it's the least we can do. as an organization we're small, nimble and big hearted. we get to do what we can to say thank you to these families and our soldiers and people like christian who have the best spirit in the whole world. i'm so lucky to be part of it. >> it's luke's wings.org because i'm sure that people out there the watching will want to help. again, lukes wings.org. lindsay kin, wow, just what you do is remarkable. great stuff. and corporal, we can't thank you enough for your service on this memorial day. and we wish you all the best in your recovery and your future, and you know, what an extraordinary thing to come and help other people as i know this will to take time out of your memorial day to talk to people out there. so thank you very much. >> yes, ma'am. if i could just say one more thing. >> sure. >> just about luke's wings. there are plenty of people out

there that don't know how to help. a lot of people want to be patriotic and get involved and a lot of people want to do their part. and to do that, to help us or if you see a veteran and you know you tell him thank you for your service and you see a situation,' circumstance, know that he's able to go out to those places to eat and see his family members. he's able to start his new life because of organizations like luke's wings and get involved you know, check out that website and get in touch with these people because they're changing lives and you can be a part of that. >> well, said, corporal. well said. thank you again. happy memorial day to both of you. >> you too. >> thank you. coming up, we'll take a look at how the veterans vote is playing out in the 2012 race for president. plus, mitt romney will share the is taken with donald trump for a fund-raiser tomorrow night in vegas. first read now says this is makes trump an unmistakable surrogate for the romney camp, but is romney playing with pire? hi, i'm phil mickelson.

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on this memorial day, a new gallup poll shows presumptive republican nominee mitt romney has a big lead over president obama among veterans. 34% back the president. who lost the veterans vote to john mccain in 2008. veterans will be an important voting group this year because they make up 13% of the electorate. now, looking ahead to tomorrow when the campaign resumes after the break today, mitt romney will be in colorado in the morning. then las vegas for a fund-raiser notice evening hosted by none other than donald trump. joining me now, national journal political reporter alex row herty and reporter erin blake. gentlemen, thanks for being with us on this memorial day. >> thanks for having me. >> you know, it's always interesting when you're talking about the donald. here's what george will had to say about the idea that he would be a surrogate for mitt romney. >> the cost of appearing with this bloviating ignoramus is

obvious it seems to me. donald trump is redundant evidence if your net worth is high enough, your iq can be very low and you can still intrude into american politics. >> alex, how much of a risk is this for mitt romney? >> look, i do think he's taking a rick. i think george will makes a pretty important political point. the obama campaign wants to paint mitt romney has part of this extremist republican wing. and you know when he appears side by side with trump who is the epitome of the birther movement, it raises some problems for him. >> is that the main concern you think here that the whole birther idea and even though, erin, it appeals to the base for that vast middle that mitt romney has to win to win the presidency, they just think it's plain crazy? >> yeah, he doesn't need to be talking to birther crowd right now. these people turn out for him in the fall no matter what because

they want obama out of office. i think this is kind of the diminish diagnose returns as you go along with donald trump because we've all just been waiting for him to say something that's very unhelpful. donald trump is nota surrogate there for mitt romney. he's out there for his own gain. anytime you have somebody like that, it's a very dangerous thing. >> obviously, there's a money factor here. alex, does he bring in enough money that it's worth the risk? i mean, i'm wondering if you're somebody in the mitt romney campaign and you're watching donald trump at the hotel he owns going up to the microphone tomorrow, if you're holding your breath a little bit and wondering what he's going to say. >> i'm sure they are worried about that. you know, look, i mean what is donald trump going bring in additionally for him? 1 or $2 million? that's nice but i'm not sure it xen says for the flurry of

negative coverage that this is going to see. and you know, and again, like you pointed out, we're not sure what donald trump is going to say tomorrow. i'm sure the romney campaign is sort of busily trying to negotiate that right now. so it is sort of an odd play by the romney campaign. >> erin, let me ask you about the poll of veterans on this memorial day. they make up 13% of the voting population. here's the fascinating number behind these gallup poll numbers that if you look at the overall race, obama and romney are tied overall, 46% among all registered voters and men give romney an eight-point edge. it turns out that the almost all of that eight points comes from veterans. what do you make of that? is the president not making his case well, or is it just a case of well, veterans tend to skew toward the republican party? >> it's true that you veterans

do tend to skew towards the republican party. it's been that way for several elections now. i think the last democrat to win the veterans vote was bill clinton. since then, it's been republicans generally winning by a double digit margin. i will say that the 24-point margin that you talked about in that poll is a little bit bigger than we've been seeing even with a guy like mccain going up against obama four years ago. he won that vote by about 10%. so i think what's at work here though is this is a very good analogue for kind of the blue collar white male voters that obama has been struggling with in states like kentucky, in states like west virginia with these primaries where the alternative which basically isn't an alternative at all has been taking 40% of the vote. i think that veterans are very much along the same lines as has. >> al lerk roa lerk -- thank yo gentlemen. up next, a protester interrupts

tony blair's testimony today about the uk hacking scandal and his relationship with rupert murdoch. we'll have a live report from london. >> plus, a memorial day ceremony getting underway at vietnam veterans memorial in the nation's capital. president obama expected to speak there in just a few minutes. obviously, that is tom sellick, a vietnam era veteran. we'll have the president's comments for you live. s with a private island? really? no. it comes with a hat. see, airline credit cards promise flights for 25,000 miles, but... [ man ] there's never any seats for 25,000 miles. frustrating, isn't it? but that won't happen with the capital one venture card. you can book any airline, anytime. hey, i just said that. after all, isn't traveling hard enough? ow! [ male announcer ] to get the flights you want, sign up for a venture card at capitalone.com. what's in your wallet? uh, it's ok. i've played a pilot before. what's in your wallet? an intense burning sensation i woke up with this horrible rash on my right side. like somebody had set it on fire.

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president obama is scheduled to arrive soon at vietnam veterans memorial in washington. president will be taking part in ceremonies marking the 50th anniversary of the start of the vietnam war. he will be accompanied by first lady michelle obama and by vice president joe biden annis and his wife jill. the president will be teak speaksing and we'll have his remarks for i you live. i want to bring in analyst retired general barry mccaffrey who served 32 years in the army. he was in vietnam. he also served in the first iraq

war. also with us retired general and former nato commander wesley clark who spent 34 years in the army. he also served in vietnam. gentlemen, what a great honor to be with you. thank you for joining us. >> you think back on vietnam and it may sound like kind of a trite question, general mccaffrey. but it's hard to believe it's been 50 years. >> boy, that's for sure. you know, this observance today parks the beginning of a sort of rolling series of memorializations across the country. lieutenant general mick lickliter is going to be in charge for department of defense day ceremonies to remind us of this hugely expensive costly war, 58,000 dead. 300,000 plus ound wounded. with the division that it ripped an american society that continued for two generations. so it's a monumental note of history that we're taking account of today.

>> and when you talk about how ripped apart america, you have and i have talked about this before, general mccaffrey, i'm always reminded of hal moore's book "we were soldiers once and i don't think." i want to read just a small sentence from the prologue that lieutenant general moore wrote. he said, many of our countrymen came to hate the war we fought. those who hated it the most the professionally sensitive were not in the end sensitive enough to differentiate between the war and the soldiers who had been ordered to fight it. they hated us, as well. and we went to ground in the cross fire as we had learned in the jungles." i remember the first time i read that, i've read it so many times since. it is at least notable to say how far we've come, is it not, general? >> we've come a long way, chris. and, of course, those were great americans who were drafted. and went over there and fought

with us and for this country. most of them didn't want to be there. they could have done something else. a lot of people did. they didn't take student deferments. they didn't go to canada when the draft board called them, their community leaders called them and summoned to go into the service, they went and they fought and they fought well despite the fact that no one gave them rounds of applause when they came home or gave up first class seats on airlines. and they've carried their service in their hearts with a lot of pride, a lot of affection for those who served. but i guess the most striking thing about it is, we didn't understand the cost of the war on the people who served. today, we call it ptsd. and everybody understands what that is and we're very sensitive to the people in iraq who fought in iraq and afghanistan. but there were people who fought in vietnam who are just as afflicted by post traumatic

stress disorder as those who have fought later. and yet, we didn't even recognize it at the time. i remember 30 years ago, when vietnam veterans memorial was opened, and many of them came and they were wearing their tattered field jackets and scruffy jungle fatigues. and corporal or earth stripes or specialist stripes on there. some of them had their service medals on the outside. and i was thinking, who are they? what are they doing with their lives and now we know even more than we did then. how shattering on many young people participation in combat can be. >> it is astonishing when you go to that wall just to see the length and the number of names and some of the facts about what is on that wall, and it goes chronologically. it starts with the first combat casualty and ends with the last. the youngest vietnam killed in

action is believed to be 15-year-old dan bullock. at least five men killed in vietnam were 16. at least 12 were 17. there are at least 25,000 names on that wall who were 20 years or younger and the oldest person on that wall is dwayne mcgrith at 63 years old. general mccaffrey, how important is this memorial? it is stunning it, i think, stunningly beautiful. and deeply moving. but what does it mean to the veterans and to their families? >> well, you know, arguably it changed the way we think about war. the way we think about grieving. jan scruggs, this genius young corporal who came home from combat in vietnam and ener advised the he entire effort, senator chuck hagel. they put together a monument an enduring tribute. it's the most visited memorial in america, bar none.

24 hours a day, you'll find people down there looking at finding their loved one, their friends. now it's grandchildren, it's sons and daughters in touch, one of the organizations. so it's really quite something. we're going to expand this. i'm the chairman of the advisory committee to build this new education center at the wall. it's going to be underground right near vietnam memorial. it's going to bring up the faces more than 300 a day of those killed in action during that conflict. and tell their stories electronically. i might add until the iraq and afghan veterans get their memorial, we're going to add their sacrifices, the thousands killed in action to that memorial. any viewers who want to help, it's build the center.org. it's going to be an $85 million effort. colin powell is one of our fund raising chairmen. we're well on our way and excited about this further tribute to america's servicemen

and women. >> i'd like to give you an opportunity to talk some more about this. you're going to come back, general barry mccaffrey, wesley clark, come back, as well. we are waiting for the president to speak. thank you. we will see you soon. in other news today, in syria, the united nations special envoy kofi annan arrived to meet with president assad today. annan said he was horrified after a massacre that killed more than 100 people in the town of hugh la on friday. what's the latest there? >> good afternoon, chris. that's right. the secretary-general special envoy kofi annan arrived in damascus to hold meetings and had some very strong words where what is now widely being described by many activists in the international community as a massacre of the people of hugh hula. the syrian military continued

its offensive in other parts of the country including killing dozens there. there is no doubt this has become in the eyes of many a defining moment throughout the past several weeks and more importantly through the past 15-month uprising. many are calling for the international community to do more. the secretary-general special envoy kofi annan himself acknowledging that his peace plan so far is not being implemented and now many people are saying it has all but fail calling on the united nations to do more to try to protect the innocent lives of syrians across the ayman, thank you very much. meantime, tony blair was on the hot seat today testifying before a parliament hearing into that country's phone hacking scandal. he was grilled over his close links to ruppert murdoch. it was particularly notable because murdoch's newspaper, the "sun," endorsed blair in the late '90s after years of the paper supporting the opposing party.

>> i cannot believe we are the first and only government that has ever wanted to put the best possible gloss on what you're doing. i would be surprised if governments hadn't done that throughout the ages. >> nbc's steveny gosk joins from us london. blair was interrupted by a protester who barnled into the proceedings, right? >> he was. he came in and accused blair of being a war criminal. a little insight into the fact that a lot of people in this country were very angry that tony blair took the country to war with iraq. it was actually a majority of people disagreed with him. but the majority of today's event was more about his relationship with rupert murdoch and the fact that he was endorsed by murdoch's paper the "sun" right before he won the election and became prime minister. he was asked specifically if he had struck some kind of deal with murdoch in exchange for that endorsement. and if he offered up any policy tweaks because of murdoch's

endorsement. he said there was no explicit deal, that there was never any kind of official arrangement with murdoch but he did go on to say there are elements of the relationship between politicians and media that he described not cozy but unhealthy was the word he used. he said that these papers have a lot of influence over politicians. aggressive influence that at times crosses the line. >> chris? >> nbc's steve knee gosk, thank you so much. >> nice to see you too. in a few moments, president obama, the first lady and the bidens will arrive at vietnam veterans memorial to mark the 50th anniversary of the start of the war. we will have the president's remarks live. you're watching msnbc. who toret your sill-beating heart? ah, being a vegan is really working out for her. [ bowling pins ] ok, how's this gonna play? mi amore. [ chicken clucking ] [ male announcer ] ah common g., try manly, girls dig that! [ screams ] [ male announcer ] no, no, no, think smooth, but animal. like a werewolf in finance. diversify [ elephant trumpeting ]

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53% plan to spend more than $1500. more than half, 56%, plan to drive to their destination. also fly. jean is with orbitz and joins me this memorial day. happy memorial day to you. >> great to see you. so give us some pointers. everybody wants to make their travel dollar stretch. what's the best way to go about it? >> well, what we're seeing is a lot of people are looking at cost as just an important a factor as the actual destination. people are looking to the destinations that are driving some of these great deals. las vegas is not only our number one destination this holiday weekend but for the summer in general. averaging just $92 a night for summer. orlando just at $100 a night. so looking at these destinations we are going to get some of the great deals is going to be where travelers are going to save. >> in your top ten list of most

popular destinations, cancun was the only one that was an international destination. i'm supering that has to do with price, too. there are some amazing deals to be had in mexico. >> he it certainly does. cancun and rivera maya both made the top len ten list. cancun being the only international destination on our top ten summer list. it does have to do with deals. it also has to do with proximity. people can take the quick two, three-hour flights and they're getting great deals at all inclusive resores. >> my home new york city which i love in 2011 last year was sixth. it jumped to number two this year. why do you think that is? >> you know, the new york is historically one of our more popular destinations year round. and we do see in these top ten destinations a lot of them will flip rankings. new york has some great hotel deals this summer. but what we're seeing overall for hotels is that average hotel

rates are up slightly year over year. this signals that hotel years think there's going to be strong depend. travelers are looking to some of these destinations always high on their list like new york. >> only one have the hotel rates decreased, that's denver. that should bode well for them, yeah? >> denver is a great destination this summer as well, a great jumping off point for the rocky mountains. they're in their shoulder season. beautiful weather in some of these small mountain towns. you will see that the prices are significantly cheaper than during their high season which is the ski season. >> jean and tornator, from orbitz. thanks so much for coming on. >> my pleasure. >> two events we are watching for you live now. one is in san diego at the veterans museum memorial center where senator mccain is with the republican presumptive nominee, mitt romney and then, of course,

in washington, d.c., we are waiting for the president at the street nam veterans memorial to mark the beginning of what will be a series of ceremonies for the 50-year anniversary of the start that have war. we have it all for you covered here on msnbc. what's in your energy drink? ♪ power surge, let it blow your mind. [ male announcer ] for fruits, veggies and natural green tea energy... new v8 v-fusion plus energy. could've had a v8.

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this is from just moments ago. senator john mccain joining mitt romney to mark memorial day by laying a wreath at the veterans museum and memorial center in san diego. of course, that area has a huge military presence. a very large military community. and there you see the wreaths. in san diego. also on this veterans day, president obama just arrived at the vietnam veterans memorial in washington. we were told he was at arlington national cemetery earlier today. he will be speaking soon. marking the 50th anniversary of the start of the vietnam war. so as we wait for the president, i'm joined now by nbc news

military analyst, retired general barry mccaffrey, and retired general wesley clark. both of their long military careers include service in vietnam and our thanks to you gentlemen for your service as well as for sharing this memorial day with us. we were talking a little earlier about the wall. 247 feet almost of black granite. on it now, i am told, are inscribed the names of 58,282 mostly men, and some women. and what, what does the wall, what does this day bring to mind for you, general clark? >> i think about all of those people that i know whose names are on that wall. i lost 30 west point classmates there. first classmate we had killed was killed just six months of graduation from west point. we had people killed in every imaginable way. people killed in accidents. people killed in combat.

people captured and tortured. people injured with rpgs and shot. a lot of my class, all my class served there. a lot of them came back wounded. it was -- it was a very wrenching, emotional experience, and when i go to that wall and i look at the momentos that are left behind and the names, i see the family members there touching the wall and their reflection. i think how incredibly significant and how hopefully we'll never forget the very real human cost we're asking the men and women of the armed forces and their families to endure. when we make a decision as a nation to go to war. >> it may be 50 years but that never, ever obviously goes away when you lost a member of your family. as i was researching the wall today, and these numbers are not exact. there's no way to confirm for vur. they believe almost a thousand of the names on this wall, a

thousand were killed on their very first day in vietnam and almost 1,500, what was to have been their last day in vietnam before going home. and we were talking, general mccaffrey, about buildthecenter.org. tell us a little bit more about thee esffort that is under way essentially expand the understanding of vietnam and expand the commemoration that we already see with this wall. >> well, we think it's a very exciting and important concept, and, again, jan scruggs and our chairman have been heavily involved in this to put together what in essence will be under ground. it won't be visible as you look out from the lincoln memorial. a very advanced state of the art technology center. the centerpiece of which will be, you'll see come up and be visible the faces. we're collecting photographs all over america today. the faces of those who were killed in action. maybe 300 a day.

now we're going to add in the faces of the iraq and afghanistan veterans to try and give them a more immediate memorial until it's commemorated in some appropriate way, a te decade or more from now. we're well on our way. colin powell has been a huge help in bringing legitimacy and fund-raising. and senator chuck hagan and general price who was involved from the start. we think it's moving in the right direction. the government of australia has given us significant amounts of money. we're very grateful. it looks as if this november will be the groundbreaking and we'll get it done in the following two years. >> all right. retired generals barry mccaffrey and obviously wesley clark. gentlemen, you're going to stay with us. we're waiting not just for the president but also going to be hearing from the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, from the defense secretary there at the vietnam veterans memorial today marking the 50th anniversary of the start of the war. we will be back with more on msnbc.

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