Song of birds in surrounding trees mixed with a low, respectful
hum of conversation May 24 as volunteers moved along in
military-style formation, placing an American flag in line with
each grave marker in preparation for Memorial Day ceremonies at
Fort Logan National Cemetery.
Students and Scouts joined other volunteers, like Littleton
resident Ken Butts and his family, in placing flags on each of more
than 93,000 graves.
“I’ll be under one of these markers one day and I hope there
will be volunteers to place a flag on my grave,” Butts, a Lt. Col.
in the Wyoming National Guard, said as he set a flag in place. “I
spent 18 months in Afghanistan so I feel honored to be able to pay
tribute to all the veterans buried here.”
He was joined placing flags on the graves by his wife, children
and Snorre Bjorhusal. a Norwegian friend he served with in
Afghanistan.
Butts said Bjorhusal, a 10-year Norwegian Army veteran, insisted
in joining the Littleton man and his family when he learned of
their May 24 mission.
“This is a wonderful tradition and it is great to see so many
people here putting out the flags and paying tribute to the
veterans,” the Norwegian said. “It is beautiful to see and to be a
part of. We don’t have a tradition like this in my country. It
would be beautiful to see our people pay tribute to the veterans
like this.”
A short distance away, Bob Powell hesitated at each grave
briefly as he placed his hand atop the headstone before setting the
American flag in place.
“My right leg is slightly shorter than my left leg so I didn’t
qualify to serve in the military,” the Arapahoe County man said.
“But, I know we enjoy freedom because of all those who did fight
for our country. My granddad was a Marine in Korea, my dad served
20 years in the Army, including two tours in Vietnam plus I have a
lot of cousins and friends serving in Iraq and Afghanistan so I
figured coming out to place flags here at Fort Logan was the least
I could do.”
The event was a family affair for Louralynn Arteaga who drove
from Frederick with her sons to place flags on the Fort Logan
graves.
“My 13-year-old son is a member of the Young Marines and being
here today is one of their activities and I was glad to join him.
Also, I brought my 3-year-old son David along so he could learn
about what we are doing and why we are doing it,” she said. “The
people buried here served and many didn’t come home alive so we
could enjoy freedom.”
The cemetery staff drove golf carts along the roads as the
groups of volunteers moved from section to section, placing the
flags.
Several individuals, cradling a bundle of flags in their arms,
moved down the arrow-straight rows of grave markers, stopping
occasionally to pick up a flag that had not been set quite deep
enough in the ground to remain standing or place a flag on a grave
that had been accidentally missed.
Celia Gutierrez, a 61-year-old former Sheridan resident, said
she lets the younger people do most of the work and she just
follows along to make sure there is a flag on every
grave.
“We have family members buried here and it is a family tradition
to put flowers on their graves three or four times a year,
including Memorial Day,” the Lakewood woman said. “I found out
about the volunteers placing flags two years ago when I came with
my grandson when his Boy Scout Troop did it and I decided it was a
way I could pay my respect to all our military veterans buried
here.”
303-566-4108 |tmunds@ccnewspapers.com