The call went out Monday for volunteers to help place miniature American flags at every grave on the grounds of Riverside National Cemetery for Memorial Day.
At least 200 volunteers will be needed to walk and place the flags Saturday, May 28, ahead of Memorial Day on Monday, May 30, for the “Flag for Every Hero” tradition at the 900-acre national cemetery, which is the fourth-largest of its kind in the nation.
The flag placements are conducted not only on Memorial Day weekend, but also on Veterans Day. Both were nixed in 2020 due to the pandemic but are set to resume this year.
“Memorial Day is rapidly approaching, and hopefully we’ll be able to return to our normal operations,” said Brennan Leininger with the nonprofit Honoring Our Fallen, which helps organize the effort.
“I hope to have a big turnout to honor and remember all the service members who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for this great country,” said the honorably discharged U.S. Air Force serviceman and current Anaheim police officer. “We have a big responsibility in filling Riverside National Cemetery with flags.”
The sheer size of the cemetery, with more than 200,000 gravesites, makes it virtually impossible for the cemetery to manage and fund such a program by itself, according to the Honoring Our Fallen website at www.honoringourfallen.org, where donations are accepted.
A decade ago, only a fraction of the gravesites had flags, but organizers have since been able to procure enough flags and enlist a sufficient number of volunteers to plant the Stars and Stripes next to just about all of the final resting places of individuals interred at the cemetery.
Flags are now placed at every grave within about three hours, Leininger said.