We were so honored to have the opportunity to be a part of celebrating the fallen veterans this Memorial Day. We joined with hundreds of families from all kinds of scouting troops to place flags on the graves of the veteran men and women in the cemetery near our house. We've celebrated Memorial Day at this cemetery before, but we'd never come before the ceremony to help out.
There were other kids there from our AHG troop, but we separated from everyone right after the flag ceremony because we really wanted to be the ones who placed the flag on my grandfather's grave. We had grabbed an extra flag, but it didn't even dawn on me to ask for directions to his grave site. I'd been there a couple of times and knew approximately where it was, so I figured I could find it pretty easily. As we started to head out, we met some friends of ours who joined us on our hike out to his grave.
After a little while of searching, we decided to go ahead and place some of the flags we were already holding on the military graves we were passing, rather than just walk right by them. We laughed at how random the girls were, talking and looking around as they walked. They placed several flags but also missed several graves as they went along. They jumped from row to row without noticing, working in columns and zig-zags. I wasn't sure how much we were helping things at this point. Larry and I followed behind them, trying to pick up all of the ones they'd missed and we noticed that the other scouts were missing some as well. We also noticed as we walked that many of the headstones had symbols on them or weren't in English and I wished there was some way to actually know which ones were veterans so we could honor them all. It also started to dawn on me that although my grandfather had a proper military burial, I don't remember it being printed on his headstone that he was even in the military. It certainly wasn't the defining factor of his character, or even a major part of who he was as a person. It didn't define his accomplishments, but was just one of many things worthy of honor that he did in his lifetime. I thought about how many other headstones had been made by family and friends who appreciated the deceased's contribution to their country and yet didn't include it in the printed words. Maybe they wanted to say something else instead. Maybe they had forgotten that part of their loved one's life. Or maybe it happened before they were born, and they didn't even know. I thought about them as I walked and placed flags on the headstones that were marked, and I hoped someone somewhere was thinking about those unmarked graves and the sacrifice they made.
We continued the hunt for my grandfather's grave, knowing that if it was indeed marked, we were now in a race against dozens of extremely anxious Boy Scouts, whom I felt would surely reach the site before we did. I tried desperately to remember where his grave site was, but the area just didn't look right. The headstones were facing the wrong way and the hill just didn't seem right. I flagged someone down in a little golf cart and asked if she could help me. She called the front office and they were able to tell her which area of the cemetery his plot was in, but unfortunately, since she works in the front office, she had no idea where that place was. She managed to wave over a few of the grounds people and they eventually pointed her in the right direction. We had wandered off to another area to keep looking and she came driving up on the cart to tell us that her and C had found it and C had already placed the flag there. The rest of the girls rode on the cart and Larry and I walked over to the grave site to see. I was glad we had made all that effort to find his headstone because it didn't say anything about the military and would surely have been skipped over by the other scouts.
We had no idea what to expect when we arrived, but the cemetery is massive, so we knew it would take a while to get through it all. I half-expected them to hand us maps of the grave sites and to tell us which ones should have a flag on it, but I was a little surprised when they just put out 3000+ flags in big plastic tubs and told us to grab some and just go find the marked headstones ourselves.
After a little while of searching, we decided to go ahead and place some of the flags we were already holding on the military graves we were passing, rather than just walk right by them. We laughed at how random the girls were, talking and looking around as they walked. They placed several flags but also missed several graves as they went along. They jumped from row to row without noticing, working in columns and zig-zags. I wasn't sure how much we were helping things at this point. Larry and I followed behind them, trying to pick up all of the ones they'd missed and we noticed that the other scouts were missing some as well. We also noticed as we walked that many of the headstones had symbols on them or weren't in English and I wished there was some way to actually know which ones were veterans so we could honor them all. It also started to dawn on me that although my grandfather had a proper military burial, I don't remember it being printed on his headstone that he was even in the military. It certainly wasn't the defining factor of his character, or even a major part of who he was as a person. It didn't define his accomplishments, but was just one of many things worthy of honor that he did in his lifetime. I thought about how many other headstones had been made by family and friends who appreciated the deceased's contribution to their country and yet didn't include it in the printed words. Maybe they wanted to say something else instead. Maybe they had forgotten that part of their loved one's life. Or maybe it happened before they were born, and they didn't even know. I thought about them as I walked and placed flags on the headstones that were marked, and I hoped someone somewhere was thinking about those unmarked graves and the sacrifice they made.
We continued the hunt for my grandfather's grave, knowing that if it was indeed marked, we were now in a race against dozens of extremely anxious Boy Scouts, whom I felt would surely reach the site before we did. I tried desperately to remember where his grave site was, but the area just didn't look right. The headstones were facing the wrong way and the hill just didn't seem right. I flagged someone down in a little golf cart and asked if she could help me. She called the front office and they were able to tell her which area of the cemetery his plot was in, but unfortunately, since she works in the front office, she had no idea where that place was. She managed to wave over a few of the grounds people and they eventually pointed her in the right direction. We had wandered off to another area to keep looking and she came driving up on the cart to tell us that her and C had found it and C had already placed the flag there. The rest of the girls rode on the cart and Larry and I walked over to the grave site to see. I was glad we had made all that effort to find his headstone because it didn't say anything about the military and would surely have been skipped over by the other scouts.
We spent another hour or so going through random rows and placing more flags on graves that had obviously been missed by kids who'd skipped around and been distracted. I wondered how many would be missed entirely, but was very proud of the dozens that our families had personally honored by placing flags by their graves. We weren't sure how anyone could know when the job was finished, with 400 scouts wandering randomly around a 330+ acre property, but when we saw groups of families walking back towards the starting area with flags in their hands, we figured that the task must be close to being finished. I had the feeling there were still a few missed sites out there, but it would have taken us weeks to wander that entire cemetery looking for them, so we just looked in a few more areas on our way back to the entrance, turned our flags in, and headed to lunch.
Monday, May 26
We went back today to watch the Memorial Day Ceremony itself. If you've never been to one, it's an experience you won't soon forget. Hearing Veterans speak about their experiences, and each and every one of them thanking you for taking the time to remember them and support them, is truly a life-changing experience. This ceremony is especially beautiful and well-done at this site, and I'm proud that our city takes such an active role in honoring the families and friends of our fallen heroes.
Happy Memorial Day!
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