Flagging Of The Graves In Cleveland County

By: Wa

y Wer ching

was looking for something to do for

Memorial Day to honor our fallen veterans. There wasn’t anything scheduled locally because of the pandemic; only virtual events. Then I saw an article in the Shelby Shopper about placing flags on the graves of veterans. They were doing it at three Shelby cemeteries: Cleveland Memorial, Sunset Cemetery, and Webb Memorial, on either Thursday May 21st or Saturday May 23rd. I decided to go to the Sunset Cemetery on Saturday, May 23rd at 10:00am. I was surprised to see Dr. Jack Weller, an old friend from the Broad River European Motor Club, was in charge. He is the Commander of Squadron #82 of the Sons of the American Legion (SAL). The local SAL group, which is associated with the American Legion Post #82 in Shelby, was organized in the fall of 2019 when Weller was named Commander.

I arrived at the cemetery at about 9:45 and parked near the American Legion tent. I was glad to see that there were quite a few people already there. As I was talking to one of the volunteers, I heard a group of motorcycles riding through the cemetery. I thought that they would stop, and help with the placement of the flags, but they just rode through without stopping.

After signing in, I waited for the program to begin. I received a schedule of events. It was a complete program similar to the one usually held at the court square. First Dr. Weller welcomed everybody and explained what we were to do. Then there was an opening prayer. The Mayor of Shelby, Stan Anthony, had a few words to say to honor our veterans. Former Shelby Mayor, and NC State Senator Ted Alexander was there

to volunteer.

Evan Thompson sang the National Anthem. Then with the color guard salute, the rifle squad fired three volleys. Then Ned Cash played taps on the trumpet.

Afterwards, we all went our separate ways with our teams to find and place a flag at the over 800 veteran’s graves in the cemetery. We all were assigned sections of the cemetery. I was on the team with the Boy Scouts. They were very enthusiastic, and energetic.

Since the ground was very hard, we couldn’t just push the flag into the ground. We were supplied with a tool to push into the ground to make the hole about 4 inches deep. We’d drop the flag’s stem into the hole, stand back, say the veteran’s name out loud, then say a little prayer thanking the fallen veteran for his or her service.

The first headstone I located was that of William Rabb of

Company K, 19th NC Infantry, Confederate States of America. We placed a flag near the headstone.

We walked back and forth checking the headstones for signs of military service – then placing a flag where appropriate. As I was walking, I noticed a flag lying on the ground next to a grave across the road (not in our section). I walked over and noticed that the hole wasn’t deep enough to support the flag. The rain the night before caused it to fall over. We made a deeper hole and placed the flag in it so that it would stand tall.

I left about 11:00 after most of the flags were placed at the graves. I stopped at Showmars for lunch to take home to Cindy. It was a great way to spend a Saturday morning honoring our fallen veterans.