Dozens of volunteers, including a strong turnout from the Wellesley High School football and lacrosse teams, headed to Woodlawn Cemetery on soggy Saturday morning to dress veterans’ graves.
Some of the student-athletes ran there from the high school field where they play. Elected town officials, sports coaches, and families, were also among the volunteers.
Wellesley’s Pete Jones, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, said 1,500 flags were being placed at graves at Woodlawn, and more would be placed elsewhere in town, including at memorial markers. Volunteers returned old flags, where at the back of a pickup truck Jones and others worked to dislodge round memorial markers from old sticks and replace the sticks and flags with new ones.
Volunteers, going quadrant by quadrant, were given instructions to replace all existing flags, Select Board member Beth Sullivan Woods said. Flags are disposed of through a controlled burn on Flag Day in June.
Young and old took part, with all being careful to treat the flags and graves with respect.
The town will celebrate the 250th Anniversary of U.S. Army, Navy and Marines on May 18 with the 57th Annual Wellesley Veterans Parade.
Wellesley recognizes Memorial Day on May 30, and will have a short ceremony at Woodlawn Cemetery at 7pm followed by a gathering in front of Town Hall that Friday night.
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As the daughter of two WWII veterans who rest at Woodlawn, I want to say to all the volunteers who do this touching act of service and remembrance — thank you, and bless you.
How can I make sure a flag was left at my Father’s grave? He was a veteran and buried at Woodlawn Cemetery.