Scores of volunteers embarked Friday, Saturday and Sunday to place flags at the gravesites of veterans the week before Memorial Day.
More than 1,000 American flags have been selectively displayed across every cemetery in Graham County, honoring the veterans for Memorial Day.
Bob Lane, Gila Valley Honor Guard commander, began the work in the Safford Cemetery early Sunday, setting the flags on the gravesites of veterans. He has been doing this form of volunteerism for seven years, but said the tradition has been ongoing for many years more than that.
The Gila Valley Honor Guard purchases the flags with the donations and efforts of local businesses and organizations, Lane said. This year, there was a $600 donation by the Safford Lions Club for purchasing flags. A week before Memorial Day, the flags are gathered at American Legion Post 32 in Safford where small groups collect the flags, choose a cemetery to visit and complete their mission in the early hours of the weekend. After Memorial Day, the flags will be taken down.
For Lane, this volunteer work at the Safford cemetery is more than honoring the veterans who have passed. His father, a World War II veteran, is laid to rest in the Safford cemetery. No matter how long he lives, Lane said he will always place flags at the gravesites for Memorial Day.
“It’s always remarkable. I don’t care if it's the last year of my life. It always touches my heart to honor a veteran, (and) to say, ‘Here, this is yours,’” Lane said. “And to place a flag on his or her grave is phenomenal.”
Not only is this experience special to Long, but others, too. Youngsters are invited to place the flags in the cemeteries as well, and Long described a 12-year-old girl who spoke at the gravesite of each veteran on Sunday morning.
“She told me, ‘Whenever I put a flag I tell them thank you for your service,'” Long said. “To thank them is such an amazing thing.”
Lisa Lane is Bob’s wife but also the president of Gila Valley Veteran Services. She also went to the cemetery with Bob on Sunday morning.
“It’s always a privilege,” Lisa said. “And we’re bringing out kids there so they can learn, because this isn’t necessarily being taught in school now.”
Lisa said her volunteers show the youngsters what to look for in identifying the graves of veterans.
“There’s a lot of military headstones, and the kids go from one headstone to the next, calling out when they find veterans from World War I and World War II,” she said. “This is what you do. This is what Memorial Day is all about.”
Volunteering with the Gila Valley Honor Guard and Gila Valley Veteran Services to place flags at gravesites is a good project for the local youth, she said. If anyone is interested in having their young adults assisting with the flags, they should contact the American Legion Post 32 in Safford several weeks before Memorial Day. All the information about the flag project can be found out at the Legion. Lisa said the youth are taught how to identify the gravesites of the veterans. Many of the veteran graves have a copper marker, indicating their time in the services. Other graves have the owner’s military service carved into the headstone.
Volunteering with the flags around Memorial Day is only one service project that Bob and Lisa take on with their respective non-profit organizations. Over the year, the Gila Valley Veteran Services collaborates with other organizations to put on the Field of Honor in Safford for Veterans Day as well as a stand down in November. The Gila Valley Honor Guard volunteers at graveside services, holds a service for Sgt. Walter Bruce Foote each year and regular participates events such as the Veterans Day Parade.