FOX Sports Arizona "Salutes The Troops" on Memorial Day

For the fifth year in a row, FOX Sports Arizona used its Arizona Diamondbacks telecast on Memorial Day to honor the United States Military and pay tribute to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice while defending the freedoms Americans are able to enjoy today.

The network presented its “Salute to the Troops, Presented by Sanderson Ford & Fry's” production of the D-backs & Marlins game from Chase Field, where its staff hosted 70 Arizona National Guard members and their families. The families were able to enjoy the D-backs 15-4 win from a suite where FOX Sports Arizona staged its pre-game and post-game shows.

During the telecast that was seen worldwide on American Forces Network (and locally by the largest D-backs viewing audience of the season), soldiers and Arizona National Guard families who have loved ones deployed overseas were interviewed during the game. In addition, one of the five 2011 Military Child of the Year award winners, who is from Tucson, Ariz., made an appearance in the broadcast booth to share time on the air with FOX Sports Arizona’s D-backs announce team of Daron Sutton & Mark Grace.

Leading up to the telecast, FOX Sports Arizona asked viewers to submit their messages of thanks for the military so they could air throughout the game. The network also worked with the Arizona National Guard to get numerous “shout-outs” from soldiers stationed in Afghanistan that were directed to their loved ones back home in Arizona. They aired in not only the telecast, but inside Chase Field on the jumbotron as well. FOX Sports Arizona also had various D-backs players offer to their thanks to the troops and those messages were shown on television and inside the stadium.

The “Salute the Troops” theme also carried over to FOXSportsArizona.com, where a special page devoted to the production was created and some of the messages of support were displayed.

During the pre-game show, host Todd Walsh presented the Arizona National Guard with the Rocky Mountain Emmy’s Governor’s Award that FOX Sports Arizona won for its production of last year’s “This One’s For You” telecast. The Arizona National Guard assisted the military-themed D-backs game that aired on July 4.

The Arizona Diamondbacks also got involved in the production by letting kids of Arizona National Guard families "take the field" with the players at the beginning of the game and stand alongside with them during the playing of the national anthem.