BUTTE — Veterans and volunteers continue the time-honored tradition in Butte of planting up to 5,000 American flags at the gravesites of veterans just before Memorial Day.
It’s a simple, yet important, show of respect.
“I can see a few out there, there’s some military graves right in sight out there that don’t have flags on them, so after I finish this little plot, I’ll go out that way,” said Army veteran Kirk Waren.
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Volunteers got an early start on the Saturday before Memorial Day, planting a flag on as many veteran graves as possible at all of Butte’s Cemeteries.
Vietnam veteran Tom Muntzer has one simple reason for coming out each year to do this.
“They stand by you, you stand by them. That’s what it boils down to,” said Munzter.
Dozens of volunteers walked among the headstones of the local cemeteries looking for signs that the person buried there was a veteran.
“It’s a lot of effort to get out here with all these flags. It’s nice to see other vehicles coming in, though and helping us get these flags out,” said Waren.
The VFW has been organizing this event for decades to acknowledge the contributions and sacrifices all veterans made.
“They came from people willing to stand up, pick up their muskets, and protect the land. If we forget the ones that we owe our existence to the country, we might cease to exist as a country,” said Butte VFW Post Commander Dan Cohr.
A few hours of planting flags make it all worth the effort when they’re done.
“Well, when it’s all done, you look out here and you see all the red, white and blue, you love it,” said Munzter.
