Community honors veterans with Saturday flag placing

Army veteran and American Legion Post 229 member Mike Leech decorates a veteran’s gravestone with an American flag at the Mill Road cemetery.

By Nick Sellers | Staff Reporter

Around 40 volunteers spent a hot Saturday morning on Memorial Day weekend placing American flags on veterans’ graves in Madison’s three city cemeteries.

The event, a regular installment of Veterans’ and Memorial Day in the city, was put on by American Legion Post 229 and involved local Boy Scouts, JROTC students from James Clemens High School and veterans from the Post, among others.

“It’s a great response from our community when we can come in here and honor our veterans,” Post Commander Carlos Woods said before the event.

Planning for the event was partly managed by John Silvernail from Boy Scout Troop 201 in Madison. Silvernail prepared maps of all the cemeteries and identified veterans’ plots as part of his Eagle Scout project.

The three cemeteries are located on Mill Road adjacent to the fire station, beside the Municipal Complex on Hughes Road and near Publix on Madison Boulevard. Many graves had already been adorned with various other patriotic decorations in observance of Memorial Day, yet not one lacked a small American flag, courtesy of the Post.

Three Army veterans and members of American Legion Post 229 – Carl Dow, Mike Leech and Ricky Spears – also showed up to place flags.

“We’ve had very good turnouts in the past for this,” Dow said. “The citizens of Madison have been very supportive of us.”

Dow, a Massachusetts native, has been a member of the Post for five years. Leech, who comes from Iowa, and Spears, who has his roots in Alabama, have been involved for less than a year.

The flag placing was one of six events Madison’s Post put on Memorial Day weekend, including the placing of remembrance poppies at Wal-Mart and the Memorial Day ceremony downtown.