Veterans remove tattered flags from Monessen graves
By Matt Petras
For the MV Independent
Every year, veterans in Monessen volunteer to collect old flags on the graves of veterans.
“We start at 8:30. It’s cold and stuff,” said Monessen American Legion Post 28 member Perry George. “You have to want to do this.”
About a dozen volunteers from Post 28 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1190 took to the large Grandview Cemetery in Monessen Saturday morning to gather about 1,700 old flags for a ceremonial burning.
Veteran volunteers place flags on the graves of all Monessen veterans every spring and then remove them in the fall. In addition to the flags gathered Saturday morning, the group has gathered more than a thousand others. The flags will be burned at a ceremony at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Monessen Boat Launch.
“It’s our patriotic duty to put the flags on the graves and take them off the graves … look how these flags are all torn,” said Post 28 Commander John Dudas. “They have to be disposed of properly.”
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