Veterans Day is Approaching

Are you thinking about Veterans Day on November 11th?  Are you preparing for it?  The American Legion is and so is the nearby Orange County Veterans Memorial.  The Memorial will host a significant event at the memorial on Homestead Road, and we will join them and the community to salute veterans everywhere.

Do you know the difference between the Veterans Day and Memorial Day?  Memorial Day is to honor the dead.  Veterans Day honors the living and those who are serving at sea, ashore, and on foreign soil. 

If you are considering visiting a cemetery on Veterans Day, we can help you by sharing a few things.  

Do you remember how, why, and where to place a flag?  The Arlington National Cemetery has a specific protocol for flag placement at Arlington.  National cemeteries place the flags centered, one boot-length distance from the headstone.  Local cemetery placement, however, is different.

At our local cemeteries, the flag is placed to the left of the grave marker, close to the stone.  This is so that the veteran will then have the flag to their right.  If there are multiple veterans in a family plot, one flag can be placed to the center of the family stone to honor all in the family.  You can still place a flag on each grave.

We encourage you to take a trowel to trim away grass and soften soil.  If you want to safely clean a gravestone, here is a link to how to do it.

As always, local veterans are encouraged to visit and join us at the Chapel Hill American Legion.  There is someone there each weekday morning.  We have a Wednesday evening get-to-gether from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Male descendants may join the Sons of the Amerian Legion.  We also have the American Legion Auxiliary.  

We have located a video that covers how to honor an interred veteran.  The video is suitable for students and young family members, Scouts, and patriotic groups.  It is below.