Lynn and Swampscott Director of Veterans’ Services, Mike Sweeney, said decorating graves for Memorial Day is incredibly important so that families of fallen military personnel know that their loved ones’ services will never be forgotten. This is exactly what organizations, residents, and public officials all over the North Shore did as they placed a combined 13,000 flags on veterans’ graves in Lynn and Swampscott alone.
In Lynn, veterans, veteran supporters, public officials, and members of organizations such as SkillsUSA, the Lynn Boys and Girls Club, the East Lynn Little League, the Lynn Veterans Council, and the Lynn English JROTC recently got together to place flags on graves at the veterans’ sections of Pine Grove Cemetery.
“That was almost 11,000 graves in one night,” Sweeney said, adding that the Boy Scouts of Lynn also placed flags at the St. Joseph Cemetery.
On Sunday, the Lynn chapter of the Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A. organized a Memorial Day celebration at the Pride of Lynn Cemetery.
In Swampscott, the “Field of Flags,” organized by the Military Friends Foundation in partnership with the Lynn/Swampscott Veterans’ Services will be on display along Monument Avenue. This is thanks to the groups of volunteers who helped with the installation of the display, including the Swampscott Fire Department and Fire Fighters Union, the Swampscott Scouts BSA Troop 53, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars post 1240 auxiliary. The display was established in 2012 to honor and remember the lives of service members and their sacrifices to the country and each flag may be dedicated to a fallen veteran.
Around 2,000 graves were also placed at the Swampscott Cemetery thanks to community support from local Boy and Girl Scouts troops, such as the Girl Scouts of Ocean Bay.
According to Lynnfield Veterans’ Services Officer, Bruce E. Siegel, The Lynnfield Knights of Columbus recently honored veterans buried in Willow Cemetery by placing flags at their gravesites. Fifth-grade students from Lynnfield Middle School also helped Siegel decorate graves at The West Burying Ground and The Old Burying Ground.
Over the weekend in Marblehead, there was a grave-flagging ceremony at Waterside Cemetery. In Peabody, Veterans Services Agent Steve Patten said that this year’s Memorial Day observance will be “the biggest one ever” as the Medal of Fidelity will be presented to the families of 25 veterans who died from service-related injuries or illnesses.
Sweeney acknowledges and thanks those who took part in decorating the graves, including the veterans in the community.
“It really does make a difference,” Sweeney said.
Sophia Harris contributed to this report.
