Flags on graves

Dear Editor,

Memorial Day weekend is quickly approaching us once again. The McCook American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars posts and a number of community volunteers will be setting out flags on our veterans' gravesites at Calvary, Memorial Park and Riverview cemeteries in McCook on Saturday, May 28, at 9 a.m.

If you know of a veteran who has died during the past year in Red Willow County and / or a deceased veteran who does not have a marker on his / her gravesite, please contact the Red Willow County Veterans' Service Officer, Tom Stritt, by Friday at (308) 345-2385. He can provide information on obtaining a grave marker. Markers can also be purchased by family members online or mail order from various sources. We use "American Legion Flag and Emblem Sales" as our resource for flags and grave markers. The website is www.emblem.legion.org or call (888) 453-4466. Markers are available in plastic, aluminum or bronze with a price range of $10 to $55.

The same volunteers will be picking up the flags from the gravesites on Monday, May 30 at 4 p.m. If you would like to volunteer to either help set out the flags or pick them up, please just show up at the maintenance shop at the northeast corner of Memorial Park Cemetery no later than 8:45 a.m. Saturday, May 28, or by 3:45 p.m. on Monday, May 30. Your help would be appreciated and I believe you will find it a rewarding experience.

Although we make every effort to ensure every deceased veteran has a flag at gravesite, occasionally gravesites are missed. If your deceased veteran has a marker on the gravesite and it is missed, please accept our humble apology and know it is not done with ill intent. Also, flags will be left in a barrel next to the maintenence shop located at the northeast corner of Memorial Park. Please feel free to take one of those flags and place it at graveside.

If, on the other hand, you have placed your own flag on a veteran's gravesite, please clearly mark it to help ensure it is left when we pick up flags. Again, we do not take the flags with ill intent, and we make every effort to leave flags placed on gravesites by family and friends.

Sincerely,

Daniel E. Stramel,

Commander,

McCook American Legion Post 203