On Memorial Day, each gravesite of the more than 260,000 U.S. service members buried at Arlington National Cemetery will have a small American flag carefully positioned exactly one boot's length away from the headstone. The flags were placed by 1,500 soldiers from the Army's 3rd Infantry Regiment, better known as The Old Guard.
Members of the 3rd Infantry Regiment, known as The Old Guard, place flags at the gravesites at Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday, May 22, 2024, in preparation for Memorial Day and to honor the U.S. service members buried there. (Mike …Without hesitation, he returned early Thursday morning to join other soldiers in an emotional Memorial Day tradition: placing flags at the gravesites of the more than 260,000 U.S. service members buried there.
“I was here last night going around placing flags, taking a picture and sending it to my friends,” he told The Washington Times. “To me, it feels like I’m an extension of them. It still means a lot.” Early Thursday, soldiers in camouflage moved up the rolling hills at Arlington like skirmishers preparing to attack an enemy position. Their rucksacks, however, were stuffed with American flags rather than machine gun ammunition. They stopped at each tombstone, measured the distance with their combat boots and inserted the flag into the earth.
“I sacrificed a limb, but they made the ultimate sacrifice. There is a lot to take in here,” he said. “It’s really hard right now, but I’ve always found that Arlington is a really special place for him to be buried,” Ms. Davis said. “My brother was the person I loved most on this planet. When he died, a piece of me died with him.”“When people say, ‘Happy Memorial Day,’ and then there are all the Memorial Day sales, that really kind of always irked me because I like to think of it as a day of remembrance,” Ms. Davis said.
Staff Sgt. Ariel Levaula has been in the Army for a decade and joined The Old Guard in January. This was her first opportunity to participate in the “Flags In” mission.
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