By MCAK NELSON
Moapa Valley Progress
American flags were flying all over the Moapa Valley this Memorial Day weekend. These reminders were there thanks to the American Legion Post 75 and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8336, who devoted this weekend to honoring the fallen soldiers.
The two local veterans organizations worked together to cover different areas of the valley with flags. The American Legion handled the Logandale and Glendale cemeteries, while the VFW covered the Overton cemetery and lined Moapa Valley Blvd. with flags
“Some people think that all of that stuff is put up there by the county,” said American Legion member Bill Pickett. “But it’s not, that’s all non-profit. We pay for it out of our own pockets.”
At the cemeteries, the veterans used lists of their deceased comerades to find and place flags in the ground next to their graves. The VFW placed flags on the light poles all the way down main street, to remind all driving the road that this weekend is more than just a vacation day. The veterans ended the weekend by holding a ceremony on Monday evening to honor all of the fallen soldiers.
“This gets harder and harder every year as we lose people due to death or moving,” Pickett explained on Saturday morning, “We were going to come out here and do this yesterday, but we just didn’t have enough people.”
As long as they are able, however, these groups of veterans will pay tribute to the fallen every Memorial Day, Pickett said.
