In Military City, USA, San Antonio Missions Thanks Veterans with Free Park Passes

San Antonio has one of the largest concentrations of military bases in the United States, and is officially Military City, USA. Its military roots go back more than 300 years, to the Spanish soldiers who founded the San Antonio de Béxar Presidio in 1718. That presidio supported five mission communities; four of them are now part of San Antonio Missions National Historical Park — which makes the park a natural place to thank the city's service members and veterans.

A park ranger with military members on Veterans Day. Credit: National Park Service.

Reaching the military community

In 2023 the park's rangers:

• led several military groups on guided tours of the park;
• went to outreach events at military bases, inviting people to visit their national park and giving free lifetime Military Passes to those eligible.

On National Gold Star Mother's and Family's Day, at Joint Base San Antonio–Fort Sam Houston, rangers gave out about 40 lifetime Military Passes, most of them to Gold Star Families.

Veterans Day 2023

The park joined the city's official San Antonio Veterans Day celebration, where people enjoyed live entertainment and found resources and services from organizations that welcome veterans, the National Park Service among them. Park staff thanked current and future veterans and handed out passes to national parks and other federal public lands. Rain cut the celebration short, but the park still gave out 137 America the Beautiful passes.

"It was so nice to see how many families were looking forward to visiting not only San Antonio Missions, but we encouraged them to explore other national parks in Texas and across the United States. We are proud and honored to be part of the community and to provide America the Beautiful passes to those who either needed to replace their old copy, or never even knew about the pass program prior to us reaching out to them."
— the park's Community Volunteer Ambassador

A park ranger who is a veteran explains the America the Beautiful pass program. Credit: National Park Service.

Veterans serving veterans

Some of the staff who represent the park at these events are veterans themselves; others are in the Department of Defense's SkillBridge program. The free lifetime passes are one way the park shows its gratitude to everyone, past or present, who has served in the U.S. Armed Forces. Details of the free Military Pass are on the National Park Service website.

Sources

Based on "San Antonio Missions Thanks Our Veterans," National Park Service (San Antonio Missions National Historical Park), a work of the United States government in the public domain.