Volunteers Needed To Help Place Memorial Day Flags In Butte

Every year VFW Post 1448 and the 1448 Auxiliary coordinate placement of up to 4,000 flags to honor Butte Veterans interred in Mount Moriah, St. Patrick’s, Holy Cross, and Mountain View Cemeteries.

All residents, students, and families are welcome to assist in this effort. Community groups are urged to support this effort, the Civil Air Patrol, and Montana Youth Challenge have always supported the project.

Flags will be placed this Saturday, May 27^th. All those wishing to help can meet at the Spanish American Veteran plot, at Mount Moriah Cemetery at 9:00 am.(S. Montana Street)

A safety briefing, and instructions on identifying Veteran headstones, along with proper flag placement will be presented, and then assignments will be handed out. Bottle water will be provided.

Flags will be recovered on Tuesday, May 30^th, at 10:00 am, once again at the Spanish American Veteran Plot.

Memorial Day commemorates the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces, particularly those who died in battle or as a result of wounds sustained in battle. Memorial Day is to memorialize the veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day, starting with the American Civil War. It’s believed that the tradition of honoring the dead was inspired by the way the Southern States decorated the graves of both Confederate and Union soldiers with flowers, wreaths, and flags.

Several cities claim to be the first to host Decoration Day. On May 5, 1866, Waterloo, New York hosted its own city-wide event that, in 1966, President Lyndon Johnson declared the town the birthplace of Decoration Day.

After World War I, Decoration Day included all fallen soldiers, not just those from the Civil War, and the term Memorial Day started being used. It took until 1971, under an act of Congress,  for Memorial Day to become a National Holiday.

Please contact Dan Kohr (406) 491-1691 or Mollie Kirk (406) 565–0653 if you have questions.

We will have the details of the planned Butte Memorial Day Ceremonies tomorrow.

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