Taye Diggs Opens up About His Profound ‘Respect’ for Memorial Day (Exclusive)

Memorial Day is a very special holiday for Taye Diggs. The All American star understands that many people observe the holiday by going to the lake or doing some grilling, but it’s also a time where we remember the more than 645,000 military service members who have given their lives in military conflict in service to the U.S. since World War I. PopCulture.com caught up with Diggs who talked about his partnership with USAA to help people offer tributes to fallen military members on Memorial Day.

“My stepfather who basically raised me,” Diggs said when asked who taught him about the holiday. I’ve always had a respect for, for this holiday, which was interesting because growing up everybody else seemed to be caught up in the barbecue and the beaches. I was always reminded what the actual holiday represented, which is why it was easy to link up with USAA and helping them kind of lead an effort for a digital tribute. So we’re making it easy for people to go to, poppyinmemory.com and leave a digital message, that lets us know that we respect and remember those that sacrificed sp much of the freedoms that we kind of take for granted.”

Shortly before Memorial Day, Diggs, 50, went to Instagram to post a photo of him with a poppy flower to honor the fallen military heroes. In the caption, Diggs wrote he planting the flower to remember his father Jeffries Leo Diggs. And while Diggs honors his father, he will use Memorial Day to spend time with his son.

“I have a beautiful 11-year-old boy and we’re going to probably play a lot of basketball and spend a lot of time in there in the sun, but as I was saying before, I love the opportunity to, to let, my son’s name is Walker, Walker know what this holiday is actually about, Diggs said. “You know, he’s at the age where, he’s just soaking everything in and, and selfishly, it’s, it’s great to be in a position to kind of teach and lead, yeah.

“And the way my father spoke about, you know his service, it kind of changed who I was as a person because it allowed me to, to take that time to, to honor certain situations and people that perhaps otherwise I wouldn’t, you know what I’m saying? So, it’s so easy for some of us, to take so much of what we have for granted. You know, it only takes a couple of seconds to kind of just center and remember what we’re actually celebrating.”