Volunteers Needed For Memorial Day Weekend Flag Placements In RivCo

RIVERSIDE, CA — Those seeking to salute the nation's fallen servicemen and women were encouraged to join a Memorial Day weekend mission at Riverside National Cemetery, where volunteers will place miniature American flags alongside more than 250,000 graves.

The "Flag for Every Hero" event is slated for 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, May 23, beginning with a brief ceremony at the Veterans Memorial Amphitheater, in the middle of the cemetery.

"We hope you will be able to join us," Garden Grove-based Honoring Our Fallen stated. "No sign-up or registration is necessary."

The nonprofit organizes the flag walks every year, generally for Memorial Day and Veterans Day. However, the walk that had been scheduled last Nov. 11 was nixed due to the federal government shutdown, which by then was almost at an end. However, personnel from the U.S. Department of Veterans' Affairs remained on furlough, disrupting operations handled by the agency's National Cemetery Administration, which oversees Riverside National Cemetery.

Honoring Our Fallen therefore called of the November flag placements. The May 23 event will be the first one in a year at the cemetery.

Brennan Leininger first organized the walks in 2012, bringing together Boy Scouts, police Explorers, Civil Air Patrol cadets, unions and other interested parties from throughout the Inland Empire to participate. Upwards of 1,500 volunteers have taken part in the past.

When the events began, though, participants were able to reach only 21,000 grave sites. In 2014, organizers were able to procure enough flags and enlist a sufficient number of people to plant the Stars and Stripes next to just about all of the final resting places of individuals interred at the cemetery.

Since then, flags have been erected at every grave within three hours.

Leininger, an honorably discharged U.S. Air Force serviceman who became a police officer, visited the cemetery in 2011 and was dismayed by how few flags were flying, prompting him to start the placements, ultimately in partnership with Honoring Our Fallen.

Their group later joined with Riverside resident Mary Ellen Gruendyke to ensure all graves receive a flag. Gruendyke had contributed money and time to the effort long before 2012.

The 900-acre national cemetery is the fourth-largest of its kind in the nation — and running out of space.

Additional information is available at honoringourfallen.org.