Vets get Leafy Salute. (Clippings).

More than 2,000 Dwight D. Eisenhower Green Ash trees now majestically stand in communities across the United States in honor of the men and women who bravely served their country during World War II.

The trees were planted this spring as part Operation Silent Witness, a tree-planting campaign by AMERICAN FORESTS, the VFW Foundation, WalMart, and Scotts, which gave Eisenhower trees to VFW posts for local Memorial Day events.

Between Memorial Day and D-Day, some 2,300 VFW posts participated in Operation Silent Witness, making it the largest memorial tree-planting effort in AMERICAN FORESTS' 125-year history. Local veterans, community leaders, schoolchildren, and others gathered at hundreds of ceremonies that planted Eisenhower trees at parks, cemeteries, libraries, and other sites.

The Memorial Day activities were launched in Kansas City, Missouri, May 24 during a ceremony at People to People International, an organization founded by President Eisenhower.

"These majestic trees have stood as silent witnesses to history," Mary Eisenhower, Ike's granddaughter and CEO of People to People, said during the Memorial Day event. "Now they will stand in our cities and towns as lasting memorials to those 16 million soldiers in uniform during World War II, and to all who have served in the military and on the home front to preserve our freedom."

By June 6. the 57th anniversary of D-Day, hundreds of Operation Silent Witness events had occurred across the country, including tree-plantings at the birthplace of Dwight D. Eisenhower and on the grounds of the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station, Texas.

Eisenhower Green Ash trees, grown by AMERICAN FORESTS' Famous & Historic Trees project, are direct-off-spring of a tree that stands at the Denison, Texas, birthplace of the man who would become the Supreme Commander of Allied forces in WWII and the 34th president of the US.