This Memorial Day, Suffolk resident and Navy veteran Roger Hirsh is still looking for help from Virginia drivers to show Navy pride on their cars with a specialized license plate.

Hirsh began his campaign in early 2017, when he realized there wasn’t an option for a Navy plate for a car in Virginia. He has since worked with the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Navy Trademark Office and his state legislators.

More recently, he’s sent out letters to the commanding officers of almost all the ships stationed in the Norfolk area, but has gotten no responses back as of Thursday.

Hirsh needs 450 preorders before this license plate can officially be registered on the DMV website, he said. He has 163 preorders as of Thursday.

The Vermont native grew up the son of Warren Hirsh — a pilot during World War II — and grandson of Harold Hirsh, a decorated infantry officer during World War I.

Hirsh enlisted in the Navy in 1971 and met his future wife, Chris, shortly after. Hirsh has about 30 combined years of active duty as an enlisted hospital corpsman and later a pharmacist.

He’s been working on this license plate for years because he wants all Navy men and women — including active duty and veterans — to show pride not just in their own service, but also in all the others that have served in the Navy.

The Virginia Navy license plate will also benefit the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society.

“This is a way of showing pride in the Navy and support for the Navy and the various things that they do, as well as recognizing the contributions they make to the state of Virginia,” Hirsh said.

Visit navyplatevirginia.com for preorder forms and other information.