Community Corner
Scouts Place Flags at Veterans Cemetery Graves
The 3,500 boys and girls honor each service member Saturday at the Westwood cemetery.
Early Saturday morning, approximately 3,500 Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, ranging from kindergarteners to teens, gathered at Los Angeles National Cemetery in Westwood to pay respects to veterans by placing flags on their graves.
Richard Marcus, chairman of Memorial Day activities for the Western Los Angeles County Council of the Boy Scouts of America, told Patch that originally the holiday was called Declaration Day. Created after the Civil War, freed slaves in the Northeastern states would decorate graves with a flag to honor those soldiers who lost their lives to free them.
With more than 14 acres, the Los Angeles National Cemetery (also known as the Veterans Cemetery) has more than 85,000 graves. Most of the veterans buried in the cemetery did not die in action, but were buried there after long lives. Marcus said that the mammoth task of placing flags on each grave is done in an hour's time, thanks to the huge number of scouts participating.
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According to cemetery representative Mary Jones, staff members from the Veterans Administration initially began the tradition of placing the flags on the graves, taking as long as a week to complete the task.
About 35 years ago, the VA decided it needed help with the massive project, Marcus said, and the Boy Scouts came to the cemetery’s rescue.
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“Scout power is here and I have never seen so many scouts gathered together in one place," said Lynette Parker, director of the Los Angeles National Cemetery.
During the opening ceremony, the scouts honored Daniel Labor, the cemetery’s foreman, who has assisted the scouts in their efforts for the last 32 years.
Older scouts trekked out to the perimeters of the cemetery to place flags while the younger children stayed closer in, seeing to it that not one grave was missed including those interred in mausoleums.
At each grave, the scout read the name of the person buried there. One flag was placed in front of the marker, then the scout stood, observed a moment of silence and saluted.
Each child who participated in the flag placement received a merit patch from the cemetery.
The cemetery will hold its Memorial Day program saluting Medal of Honor recipients on Monday at 10:30 a.m. All are invited.
The Los Angeles National Cemetery is located at 950 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
