Community honors veterans with flags at cemetery; Memorial Day service to be held at courthouse this morning
By Carla McKeown/Breckenridge Texan
By 9 o’clock Saturday morning, May 24, hundreds and hundreds of American flags stood out against the green grass of the Breckenridge Cemetery, placed there by the more than 30 volunteers who showed up before 8 a.m. to help honor the U.S. military veterans who are buried there.
Jenny Holt and her daughters, Katie and Lana Kay, look for veterans graves on Saturday morning at the Breckenridge Cemetery. Click here to see more photos. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
Led by veterans Jim Merson and Les Strickland, the volunteers took bundles of flags and walked through the cemetery, grave by grave, looking for any sign that indicated the final resting place of a veteran. In some cases, that sign is a simple symbol — a cross, star, crescent or other emblem — on a marker. Others feature details of the deceased’s service, engraved on the headstone, some having been placed there almost 100 years ago.
Merson, a U.S. Navy veteran, says that there are at least 900 veterans buried in the Breckenridge Cemetery. A brief walk along the pathways shows the diversity of their service. Thomas C. Garrity served in the Spanish American War. Robert Clifton Guiles was in the U.S. Navy during World War I, as was Samuel David Cahill. Rex Conrad Martin served in the Army during the Korean War.
Some family plots have more than one flag flying there today. For example, McKinley H. Benedict Sr. served in the U.S. Army. His youngest son, Rayburn Doyle Benedict, served in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II, as did his middle son, Walter Harrison Benedict, who earned a Purple Heart in World War II.
The volunteers who honored the veterans with flags Saturday morning ranged from youngsters riding on their dad’s shoulders to those who have served in the military themselves. There were families, co-workers, and boy and girl Scouts in uniform. Several employees from Walmart not only helped put out flags, but they also brought bottled water for the volunteers.
Merson and Strickland, who is the Stephens County Veterans Service Officer, will pick up the flags at the cemetery at 5 p.m. today, Monday, May 26.
Click here to see a photo gallery from Saturday morning’s activities.
At 10 a.m. this morning, Monday, May 26, in a ceremony on the courthouse lawn, 200 W. Walker St. in Breckenridge, members of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7767 and Auxiliary, along with Stephens County residents, will pay their respects to those Stephens County veterans who have died in the past year.
There are at least 900 veterans buried in the Breckenridge Cemetery. Every Memorial Day, local volunteers show up to make sure each one is honored for their service with an American flag by their graves. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
Cutline, top photo: A family volunteers together on Saturday morning, placing flags on the graves of U.S. Military Veterans who are buried in the Breckenridge Cemetery. Click here to see more photos from the event. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
