Thousands of volunteers decorated the graves at Calverton National Cemetery this morning in preparation for Memorial Day.
Suffolk County Scout troops and their family members began placing the flags at 9:30 this morning, working together to quickly adorn each of the more than 230,000 graves in the 1000-acre cemetery with a small American Flag.
This is the 24th year the flag placing tradition has carried on. Each grave is decorated with the flag on the Saturday before Memorial Day — formerly known as Decoration Day. The flags are removed the Saturday following the holiday. Flags are not permitted on graves at the national cemeteries at any other time.
Calverton National Cemetery, one of two on Long Island, opened in 1978. More than 3,000 people who served in World War I are buried at Calverton National. Tens of thousands more who served in World War II are also buried there, including flying ace Francis S. Gabreski, for whom the Air National Guard base in Westhampton is named.
RiverheadLOCAL photos by Courtney Blasl.
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