Sometimes, you do things because they are meaningful, even if only to you.
Sometimes, you never know – until you know.
This Memorial Day weekend as always, Legionnaires from Walton F. Hoffmann Memorial Post 179 and Squadron 179, Sons of The American Legion, will gather at Comal Cemetery in New Braunfels, Texas, to place flags at the graves of the fallen. There are thousands of flags to place. The Scouts, forbidden by VA from placing flags at national cemeteries due to the COVID pandemic, will not be there to assist. (Our local cemetery is not a national cemetery, but we understand.)
“Plan B”: We will place flags along the entrance road inside the cemetery, to honor and remember all.
We do have one volunteer family whose son is with the Christian organization “Trail Guides,” and whose sister is with the “American Heritage Girls,” the Christian equivalent of Girl Scouts. I had advised the organizations' sponsors of the situation regarding the Scouts, saying that if they would be unable to participate we would understand. Hers was the volunteer family. Her reply follows:
“Thank you, Brad. Our family has volunteered with y’all 8 out of the last 9 years, long before we became involved in AHG. (Typing that out makes me feel old.) We started when our now college sophomore was in the 5th grade at Oak Creek Elementary.
A couple of gentlemen came to the school to present awards at an assembly and nonchalantly invited the students to come out on help on Memorial Day. My son took that invitation very seriously and we’ve been going ever since. In fact, our now 13 year old was just starting to read when we first volunteered and spent a lot of time trying to pronounce the names on the headstones where we placed the flags.
I said all of that to say that getting the chance to assist with this event is a tradition with our family. It’s the reason Memorial Day isn’t about the BBQ to our kids; you all helped us be able to instill the value of remembering our fallen service men and women.”
Sometimes, you never know – until you know.
