Boy Scouts honor veterans at the L.A. National Cemetery with a flag placing ceremony
Thousands of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts along with community members gathered at the Los Angeles National Cemetery Saturday morning to post flags and salute 92,000 veteran gravesites.
The Memorial Day weekend flag-placing ceremony is a tradition for the Boy Scouts, where the young men say it's a chance to respect and honor the deeds of the veterans interred who gave some or all for their country.
Glen Schecter of the L.A. National Cemetery Support Foundation said ceremonies like Saturdays help the community understand veteran sacrifices of the past, present, and future.
"We have just under 100,000 gravesites here and we bring in about six to eight thousand people to help us place flags on every gravesite here at the cemetery … We put a flag about a foot in front of the grave marker, we then read the name of the person that is interred there, we salute, we take a moment of silence and then we move on to the next one," said Schecter.
His father, Mort Schecter is buried at the L.A. National Cemetery. He flew 35 missions in WWII as a B-24 tail gunner, over the European theater.
"Our freedom did not come freely. The veterans that are interred here gave some or gave all so that we could be free in this country," said Schecter.
Eddie Stanton, Eagle Scout and adult advisor for the Boy Scouts said he's been part of the flag-laying ceremony for five years and he said it's the least he could do to give back and honor those who served, some giving the ultimate sacrifice.
"We have some fathers in our unit who were in the military, my father included, and I've always been taught to respect the flag, that's something that we immediately learn when we join scouts," said Stanton. "And so this just all ties into the scouting program just perfectly."
The gravesite flags will remain in place through Tuesday.
