CCB MEDIA PHOTO: Volunteers placing flags during Operation Flags for Vets at the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne in 2016.
BOURNE – Volunteers are needed to help take down the thousands of flags currently planted at the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne for Veterans Day.
More than 77,000 flags were placed on the graves at the cemetery earlier this month as part of the semi-annual “Operation Flags for Vets.”
Every Memorial Day and Veterans Day, hundreds of citizens plant the flags to honor those who served the United States in the armed forces.
The tradition was started in 2011 by Paul Monti. Monti’s son Jared was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2006, awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously, and is buried at the cemetery.
“We live in a free country and it’s only free because of our veterans,” Monti said. “We like to honor those veterans every Memorial Day and Veterans Day and we feel it’s extremely important to do that to give credit to those who have kept us free.”
Volunteers are asked to assemble at 10 a.m. on Sunday at the cemetery in Bourne.
The flags will then be stored before being planted again for Memorial Day.
In years past, the flags have been displayed on the graves for one week. This year, the flags were planted for two weeks since Veterans Day fell on a weekend.
About CapeCod.com NewsCenter
