Twenty-six honor-roll students from Hermosa Jr High School worked together to place 1,500 flags on graves on Veteran’s Day at Memory Gardens in Farmington. Martha Roberts, a member of the Desert Gold Chapter of the DAR, walked row-by-row with a map eight years ago to document and archine the 1,500 veteran’s graves. By Donna K. Hewett. This story is sponsored by Ute Mountain Casino and Traegers Bar
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Transcript
As we express our gratitude on Veterans Day we should remember that the highest appreciation is not by voicing words, but to live by them. That’s exactly what happened when 26 honors students from Hermosa Junior High School worked together to honor our veterans by placing 1,500 flags on their graves at Memory Gardens in Farmington. These 12 year old seventh who went above and beyond the average in their classroom seem to understand that if there’s nothing to struggle for, there’s nothing achieved. You’re watching the Local News Network, brought to you by Ute Mountain Casino Hotel, and Traegers. I’m Hannah Robertson.
It’s wonderful to be out here serving these veterans today. It’s such an honor to be here and it’s wonderful to be serving them for all they did for our country.
Avi Nash is from the northeast region of India. He says that in his country, an event like this, honoring veterans would be highly organized by the government.
It’s very encouraging for me to see what people of different countries do for their veterans. I know coming to the States, I saw a lot of flags and so I know people have a huge emphasis on it. It’s actually illegal in my country to have our flags out, but yeah, it’s definitely a good experience being here.
Martha Roberts started to document and archive the veteran’s Graves at Memory Gardens about eight years ago. She went to her local chapter of the Daughters of the Revolution in Farmington, the Desert Gold Chapter, and presented the idea of placing flags on veteran’s graves. How many veterans are there?
The last time I counted it was close to 1500 which is why we have that many flags. But of course, every year we add to that number. So the last time I counted was in 2017, I believe. So there’s probably, there’s probably over 1500 by now.
All the flags were hammered into the ground, starting at 9:00 AM. By 4:00 PM they were taken down. Flags never fly at night if there’s no illumination. A custom since the American Revolution.
When Francis Scott Key wrote the, wrote the song he said The rockets red glare showed that the flag was still there.
Thanks for watching this edition of The Local News Network. I’m Hannah Robertson.
