BOONE — Members of the High Country Chapter of the Military Officers Association of America and volunteers from the community placed American Flags on more than 600 veteran graves at Mount Lawn Cemetery in Boone.
“This is amazing. It just is amazing,” said High Country MOAA Chapter President Frankie Groff. “I grew up during the Vietnam War, and I feel very strongly about supporting our veterans. So this is just one way to do it, and it’s just a start for us.
The event, which took place on Saturday, May 27, and is part of the new High Country MOAA initiative “Flags Over Our High Country Veterans,” was the first in which the MOAA placed flags on the graves of fallen veterans buried in Watauga. The group plans to expand to more cemeteries in the future.
The Saturday event took about a year of planning. Volunteers from Girl Scout Troop #10289, Boy Scout Troops #100 and #109, the Daniel Boone Chapter of the Daughters of American Revolution and members from App State’s Military Affairs Committee helped place the flags. Approximately 640 flags were placed on graves of local veterans.
To prepare for the Memorial Day event, members from MOAA met on Saturday, April 15 — in conjunction with members of the Appalachian State University ROTC Scabbard and Blade Club — at Mount Lawn Cemetery to place marking decals on the tombstones of local military veterans. The purpose of placing the decals on the gravesites was to help identify who the veterans were and where they were buried.
The group plans to continue this every year and plan to help guide other cemeteries to do this in the future.
On June 3, MOAA members and Watauga High School JROTC members will return to the cemetery to remove the flags.
More information on the High Country MOAA chapter can be found at www.hccmoaa.org/.
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