BOUNTIFUL—There were beautiful flowers coloring the cemetery grounds as far as the eye could see on Memorial Day. Alongside the flowers and headstones a small flag was waving on the graves of veterans. It was a symbol to remember those who were killed in action, missing in action or died in uniform. 

“We put up 2,600 flags this year,” said Shauna, who wants to remain anonymous. “To me it’s something to honor our vets for their service – they’ve earned it.” 

Shauna, along with many volunteers, starts placing the flags on the Wednesday before Memorial Day. “I have girl scout and boy scout troops that help,” she said. “There are families that come out. One lady does it during her lunch hour. A couple was walking in the cemetery and I asked them if they’d like to volunteer. They came back that night and said ‘we’re walking we might as well help.’”

Other cities were doing it (flags), said Shauna. “It wasn’t right that Bountiful is one of the largest cemeteries but didn’t do it. I felt it needed to be done for the soldiers.”

It took some research to find the graves of veterans. “We had to verify that everyone on the list were actual soldiers,” she said. “I work with the cemetery to get a list of new veterans. There were 46 this year.”

Five or six years ago they brought home Robert Hatch, said Shauna. “He served in WWII but they couldn’t find him. There is an organization that tries to find soldiers’ remains. They found him and were able to bring him back after 75 years.”

A similar tradition is taking place at the Centerville Cemetery. Bob Brown and his family have been placing flags on the graves of veterans for 30 years. “It started as an Eagle project,” said Brown. “There was no real record with Centerville City. We went to Centerville and looked at every obit on file to see if it said something about being a veteran.”

Brown said his son took troop members and walked through and looked at headstones to see if they were vets. “I put an article in the Davis County Clipper telling about the project and asking people to call me if they knew of vets in the cemetery. I got tons of phone calls. I would make a note and pass it to Centerville City. They would make a handwritten note to mark where they were.”

The first year Brown said they put out 136 flags on graves. “Now we have 505 in 30 years.”

Initially that was going to be it, he said. “It took so many hours. We started going as a family and now it’s 30 years later.”

Brown said each year he has someone come up to him and ask why their family member doesn’t have a flag. So he finds out their name and adds it to the list. “The hardest part is finding and identifying the veterans. It’s much easier now because the city’s records are computerized. We average about 14 new veterans a year so we add them to the spreadsheet.”

It’s important to Brown to continue. “I want to do it,” he said. “I’m a vet and it means a lot to see all of those flags flying in the breeze at Centerville Cemetery.”