Placing Flags on Graves for Memorial Day is a Family Affair

To some, Memorial Day is just a three-day weekend with a big outdoor party. For others, it's an opportunity to ensure that the final resting places of veterans are treated with honor.

Each year on the Friday before Memorial Day, William and Diana McCormack of Succabone Road bring their children to Buxton Cemetery in Bedford Hills to place flags at the gravestones of veterans and firefighters who have passed away.

They also bring their young children, Elizabeth, 6, and William Jr., 18 months. Diana, 42, grew up with a Sicilian-born but "ardently American" father, and said she hopes to instill in her children the same service-oriented values she learned as a young girl.

"We take our kids to all of the patriotic events: firemen's parades, days of remembrance—and my daughter already understands about the people who serve, like police, firefighters and soldiers," said Diana.

Her husband, 46, a volunteer firefighter with the Bedford Hills Fire Department, agreed.

"We bring the kids along to remind them who made sacrifices for our us," he said. "We like going to Buxton because it's in our community and that's meaningful," he said.

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed in 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, and observed when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.  In 2000, the "National Moment of Remembrance" resolution was passed, which asks Americans to observe a moment of silence at 3 p.m. to respect the true meaning of the day.

William also joins other Bedford Hills fire department members each year in their month-long effort to replace flags at gravestones throughout the region, as far south as the Bronx and up to burying grounds in Putnam County. A group of ten firefighters distributes about 100 flags, he said.

"We start at the beginning of May, and we make it a point to put new flags on all graves marked with the Maltese Cross [the universal symbol of fire service], whether it's our department or another firehouse," he said.

The older members of the firehouse have also kept maps indicating cemeteries where firefighters are buried. Inside the 223-year-old Buxton Cemetery stand headstones that date back to the Revolutionary War and more recently buried Bedford citizens.

The old flags are given to boy scouts during the in Bedford Hills, said McCormack. The ceremony helps the young scouts show respect for the flag—with each small flag remembering each soldier, their service, their lives and their memory.