Volunteers place 1,200 flags on graves of veterans

CHINCOTEAGUE ISLAND, Va. – With Veterans Day about a week away, locals are already preparing by making sure everyone who served is thanked and honored.

Volunteers with the Chincoteague American Legion Post 159 spent a few hours on Saturday placing flags on the graves of veterans. Organizers say they make sure to get to all 25 cemeteries on Chincoteague as well as three others in Accomack and one in Assateague. And this year, local high school students joined the effort.

“If they see that tie locally then anywhere they’re at in their lives maybe it’ll touch home, that this is the last great measure of saying thank you for what you did for us,” says William Edwards with the Chincoteague American Legion Post 159.

Rain or shine, these volunteers place about 1,200 flags at the graves of veterans twice a year, once on Memorial Day and again on Veterans Day. We’re told they fundraise money through out the year to help pay for the flags.