This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Flag Planting Projects Serve to Decorate Burial Places

In honor of Memorial Day and the veterans who died in service, groups and individuals plan to plant flags at graves and headstones.

Bursts of red, white and blue are popping up amid the gray headstones of local cemeteries, as community groups gather to honor those who lost their lives fighting for our freedom.

Across the nation and the region, members of Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, Knights of Columbus, Boy Scouts and others are planting flags by the burial places of those who have served in the military – some even dating back to the Revolutionary War.

Originally known as Decoration Day, Memorial Day originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971.

Find out what's happening in Shelton-Derbywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Archie Elam, flag planting project officer for the Stamford-based VFW Post 9617, spearheads the city’s flag planting in time for Memorial Day each year, making sure no fewer than 4,000 American flags are planted by the grave sites of deceased veterans.

Last weekend, VFW Post 9617 – which is mostly comprised of World War II vets – planted some 4,000 flags , Woodland Cemetery and Queen of Peace Catholic Cemetery in Darien.

Find out what's happening in Shelton-Derbywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The 56-year-old Elam, who is a West Point graduate and Gulf War veteran, told Patch that the 50-member post is busy year-round with projects to commemorate local veterans, in addition to the flag planting tradition.

“We’re a very busy post, despite our numbers. I’m lucky to be with such great people,” said Elam. “It’s like having a bunch of brothers and uncles. They’re good people.”

Elam said the flag planting ritual is not only a way to honor veterans who have passed on, but to also show support to the many World War II veterans of Post 9617 who have worked hard to make sure the post honored those who died in combat.

“It’s our way of thanking them. We thank them as much as we personally can. The people coming out to help these guys are just tremendous,” Elam told Patch. “I ask them to just do a little bit and they do way more than anyone would ever expect. They are there the whole day, until it’s done.”

“If anything it’s people leaving, and coming back with a group of friends.”

Elam said he went out with members of the post four years ago to participate in flag planting before Memorial Day weekend, was astounded by the commitment shown by the World War II vets.

“Most of our members are World War II veterans. I can remember being out with them, planting with them, thinking, ‘These guys are really getting up there in age, if we don’t get some help, it’s going to get very hard for them,’ ” Elam said.

The first year Elam joined the post to plant flags, the men went out at 7 a.m. and didn’t finish until nearly 8 p.m.

“I said to myself, ‘Holy cow, this is just crazy.’ ” Elam said. “Most of them are in their 80s. They’re a tough bunch, but you can’t spend 12 hours in the sun planting flags.”

So over the last several years, Elam has solicited support from volunteers and groups across the community to not only help plant the flags – but in return give them an “amazing window into our collective history.”

Many area high school students participate in the flag planting, which gives the kids a first-hand look at the ultimate sacrifice paid by young men of their own age.

“The second year I went out with these guys near Greenwich Avenue where Revolutionary War vets are buried in the cemetery,” Elam said. “We found African American veterans of the Revolutionary War, and I later wrote an article on it for my church newsletter. You’d see babies, literally, with the start year and end year are the same on the headstones during the flu epidemic. You could pull through or maybe not.”

This year, Elam said Post 9617 had as many as 80 volunteers spread across the four sites: St. John’s, Queen of Peace, Woodland and Long Ridge Union cemeteries.

“We’ve had as many as 150 people come out and help. In the other years, it took us about 12 hours. Now, most places done by 10 or 10:30 a.m.,” Elam said.

The flag planting is not only a gift to veterans, but to the many young people who come out to volunteer for the Memorial Day ritual.

“I see the affect it’s had on our kids, where they see history up close. At Woodland, the Scouts realized a lot of the names that you see on school buildings and street signs you’re going to see those names in the cemetery. You see that light come on, like ‘OK, I get it now,’” Elam explained.  “Some have gone back and got their friends – because they were so amazed by what they saw.”

Elam said Stamford and many nearby towns have small plot cemeteries attached to churches, where he hopes to spread the flag planting in future years.

“I’ve been asked a lot between now and next year to get a lot of other places,” Elam said. “I’ve been amazed at how supportive people have been.”

The Stamford flag planting is one of the largest in the state, Elam said. When the volunteers go out, they are tasked with identifying which graves are veterans.

“Each grave has a couple of ways we can determine if there’s a veteran in it. Most have an engraved stone that is laying flat in the ground that is provided by the Army, the Navy or Veterans Affairs,” he said. “Another thing we check, in the vertical headstones, is the inscription: ‘John Doe, World War II, U.S. Army.’ ”

American “Flag Code” calls for the “right” as the position of honor developed from the time when the right hand was the “weapon hand” or “point of danger.” The right hand, raised without a weapon, was a sign of peace. The right hand, to any observer, is the observer’s left. Therefore, as used in the Flag Code, the flag and/or blue field is displayed to the observer’s left, which is the flag’s “own right,” according to the U.S. American Legion.

As such, the flag is placed to the left of the headstone. “It’s a derivative of federal law – when a flag is displayed, it should be over your right shoulder,” Elam said.

On July 9 – the Saturday after Independence Day – a group will go out at 8 a.m. to retrieve the flags. Elam is currently recruiting volunteers. “We’ll welcome their help in doing this,” he told Patch.

Other flag and wreath ceremonies are being held on the area this weekend. In Fairfield, the Sea Memorial Ceremony will be held on May 28 at South Benson Marina.

The ceremony allows visitors to get a closer look at American history and see how American men and women have fought for freedom for people everywhere in the world.

This particular ceremony honors the values Americans' cherish in this country by honoring service men and women who lost their lives at sea. The ceremony is conducted by veterans from the area's veterans' posts.  All veterans present will be honored.

In Darien, Boy Scout troops planted nearly 2,500 flags on Thursday, honoring veterans who have passed on.

Charles Scribner, a member of VFW Post 6933 and assistant district commissioner for Boy Scouts in Darien, spearheads the flag planting each year at Spring Gove Cemetery, and at the state cemetery opposite the Darien Police Department on Hecker Avenue.

“We’ve been doing this since the 1920s,” Scribner told Patch. “We plant about 2,500 flags in the two cemeteries. One is state veteran’s cemetery, across from police station, and on the other side is a private cemetery."

In addition to the flag planting ritual, in Darien the names of deceased veterans are read during a Memorial Day ceremony.

“We do this to honor the veterans who didn’t come back,” said Scribner. “On Memorial Day, part of our ceremony is to read off the names of all the names from the Revolutionary War to present.”

Scribner said the flag planting could take an hour or more depending on the number of volunteers who turn up to take part in the service project.

“It all depends on the turnout of scouts – we would be done in an hour. Sometimes we work in the dark if we don’t get a good turnout,” Scribner said. “AS part of the Boy Scout program, the troops get credit from one rank to another for doing a service project like this. Most of them don’t mind doing it all.”

In Darien, the flags remain planted through June 14, Flag Day, according to Scribner.

At Putnam and St. Mary cemeteries in Greenwich, the Knights of Columbus go out each weekend before Memorial Day to plant flags at the grave sites of deceased veterans.

As Elam aptly summarized: “We are connecting people to their own community – to the people that live here, who helped build and create this place. It reminds us all how it came to be.”

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?