Ahead of Memorial Day, an estimated two hundred volunteers gathered at the Coastal Bend State Veterans Cemetery at 5:00 p.m. Friday to place American flags at each of the 2,410 graves there. Within an hour, the work was done.
“Every time they do something out here I like to come out and try to help,” Navy veteran, and volunteer Steve Allen said.
Allen’s father, also a military man, is buried at the cemetery across Interstate 37 from Annaville. It’s important to Allen that his father’s grave receive a flag, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be him placing it there.
“He doesn’t care,” Allen said. “He’s just happy we’re here.”
A fellow Navy veteran placed flags at graves at the cemetery alongside his wife and daughter.
“You just have to honor all of those who set the way for us to be able to have what we have today in our society,” Josue Rivera Class said.
A fellow parent and Boy Scout leader brought her troop out to today’s flag-planting event to impart the importance of remembering the fallen.
“It’s important for our kids to know that we live in a country where we can come out and do these things and be free to do these things,” Michelle Karnetsky said.
From the sound of it, her troop is listening.
“We come out here to come respect [fallen veterans] and place flags for them,” Boy Scout Asael Balderas said.
And then there were volunteers from service organizations at the cemetery to thank those who served. Issac Davila’s Faith and Hope Foundation takes dogs from Corpus Christi animal shelters and finds them homes throughout the country.
“The fight [armed forces members] are fighting is worth it,” Davila said. “Our freedom is worth it. So, I really appreciate every single one of them.”
