Rainy detail
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Retired servicemen and their spouses, community volunteers and local organizations spent Friday decorating 5,500 veterans’ graves in Washington Cemetery. About 70 volunteers attended the rainy event, led by American Legion Post 175.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Miles Glotfelty, retired Army and member of American Legion Post 175, welcomes volunteers to the annual flag detailing in Washington Cemetery Friday morning. Though Glotfelty offered to postpone the grave decorating until noon, many volunteers braved the rain and placed flags before skies cleared around lunchtime.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Miles Glotfelty welcomes volunteers to the annual flag detailing in Washington Cemetery Friday morning. Though Glotfelty offered to postpone the grave decorating until noon, many volunteers braved the rain and laid flags before skies cleared around lunchtime.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Maximus Wright, a member of Cub Scouts Pack 1103, decorates a grave in Washington Cemetery Friday afternoon. Maximus’s mother Ashley Wright, cub master, carried flags while her son scouted for empty markers.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Maximus Wright decorates a grave before paying respects by reading aloud the veteran’s name in Washington Cemetery Friday afternoon. Wright, a member of Cub Scouts Pack 1103, and his mother Ashley Wright, cub master, joined other Scouts and community volunteers at the annual flag detailing led by American Legion Post 175.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Jodi McNurlen, of Washington, is decked out in full Americana attire and rain gear. McNurlen and her friend, Lori Miller, spent Friday detailing veteran graves with American Legion Post 175.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
It doesn’t rain on Jodi McNurlen’s flag detailing parade. The Washington woman and military wife spent Friday decorating veterans’ graves with community volunteers, volunteers from local organizations and her American Legion Post 175.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Two-year-old Kash Patterson places a flag nearly as big as he is on a veteran’s grave in Washington Cemetery. Patterson and his brother, Zander, a Boy Scout with Troop 1103, spent Friday afternoon decorating veterans’ graves with their parents, Danielle and Matt Patterson.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Kash Patterson, 2, triumphantly places a flag on a veteran’s grave as his brother, 7-year-old Zander, passes by, looking for another grave to detail.
Washington Cemetery was a sea of umbrellas Friday morning, when about 70 volunteers gathered in a heavy downpour to place flags on veterans’ graves ahead of Memorial Day weekend.
Members of the Washington County Young Marines, Cub Scouts Pack 1103 and the Washington County Christian Homeschoolers Co-op; U.S. Army recruiters from the Washington recruiting office, and community volunteers joined American Legion Post 175 to decorate 5,500 graves before enjoying lunch and camaraderie at the Legion down the road.
Though event leader Miles Glotfelty, retired Army and member of Post 175, pushed the 9:30 a.m. flag detailing back until noon, more than half the volunteers opted to get to work early Friday morning, dashing between raindrops to decorate graves. Some folks sought shelter from the storm and returned to finish the work when the skies cleared around lunchtime.
Glotfelty said for decades, Post 175 has hosted the annual flag detailing at Washington Cemetery on the Friday either one or two weeks prior to Memorial Day.