Those looking to pay homage to the nation’s fallen servicemen and women were encouraged to join a Memorial Day weekend mission at Riverside National Cemetery, where volunteers will place miniature American flags at roughly 250,000 grave sites.
The “Flag for Every Hero” event is slated for 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, May 25, beginning with a brief ceremony at the Veterans Memorial Amphitheater in the middle of the cemetery.
“Accomplishing this large feat takes a lot of participation by many people, doing many different things,” said Brennan Leininger with the nonprofit Honoring Our Fallen. “Everyone’s involvement is critical to the success of accomplishing this task. The emotional experience that results from participating in this event is what it is all about.”
The walks, first organized in 2012, are conducted not only on Memorial Day weekend, but also on Veterans Day. Both were nixed in 2020 because of the COVID lockdowns but returned in 2021 with some restrictions, all of which have since been nullified.
Boy Scouts, police Explorers, Civil Air Patrol cadets, unions and other interested parties from throughout the Inland Empire take part in the walks, which have drawn upwards of 1,500 volunteers in the past.
When the events began in 2012, participants were able to reach only 21,000 grave sites. In 2014, organizers were able to procure enough flags and enlist a sufficient number of people to plant the Stars and Stripes next to just about all of the final resting places of individuals interred at the cemetery.
Since then, flags have been erected at every grave within about three hours.
Leininger, an honorably discharged U.S. Air Force serviceman, now a police officer, visited the cemetery in 2011 and was dismayed by how few flags were flying, prompting him to start the placements, with the help of Garden Grove-based Honoring Our Fallen.
Eventually, Leininger’s group joined with Riverside resident Mary Ellen Gruendyke to ensure all graves receive a flag. Gruendyke had contributed money and time to the effort long before 2012.
The 900-acre national cemetery is the fourth-largest of its kind in the nation — and running out of space.
Additional information is available at www.honoringourfallen.org.