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LEWISTON — Each year, volunteers place almost 7,500 flags by the veterans gravestones in the cemeteries around the city. Every year the need for assistance grows along with this large community project.
The state passed a law in 2001 requiring municipalities to buy and place individual American flags at the gravestone of every veteran buried in each cemetery located in that town. The flags must be in place for Memorial Day each year.
Lewiston has 13 cemeteries, and all work is done by community volunteers. For many of the smaller cemeteries, the abutting neighbors usually place the flags on the graves. For the larger cemeteries — Mount Hope, Riverside and St. Peters — there are service organizations which have adopted these cemeteries over the years and take care of placing the flags for us.
Currently, the city is looking for volunteers for the following locations:
Riverside Cemetery, 192 Summer St. — Saturday, May 18, 9 a.m., rain date Saturday, May 25. The Knights of Columbus are the coordinators for this location, and there are approximately 1,600 flags for this location.
Mount Hope Cemetery, 81 Mpunt Hope Ave. — Saturday, May 18, 2 p.m. Marcus Talarico along with Albert & Burpee Funeral Home and the Liberty Festival board of directors are the coordinators for this location. There are approximately 1,200 flags to be placed.
St. Peter’s Cemetery, Switzerland Road — Saturday, May 25, (rain or shine), 10 a.m. Volunteers should meet at the mausoleum. There are approximately 4,000 flags for this location. Jerry Dewitt is the contact person for that day and the L/A Veterans Council are the coordinators for this location.
The plan is to assign teams of five to 10 volunteers to an area of the cemetery and to cover the cemetery in a grid fashion in order to not miss any stone. There is no master list of veterans buried at the cemetery, so volunteers will need to walk each row of stones and read the inscription on each gravesite.
If military service is listed on the stone, a flag will be placed there. This is a fairly time consuming, process so many volunteers are appreciated.
Volunteers should wear sneakers or boots in case the grass is wet. Also, it’s suggested to bring a screwdriver to use to poke a hole in the grass. It is much easier to place the wooden dowel of the flag into the ground if you make the hole first. Work gloves might also be helpful.
Volunteers should plan to bring a water bottle if it is a hot day, as well as bug spray, hat and sunscreen
Children/youth are welcome with adult supervision. Do not drop off minors to do this work unsupervised. Wearing company or organization T-shirts is welcome and encouraged
For more information, 207-513-3124.
