The Los Angeles National Cemetery Prepares for Memorial Day

This past Saturday, I spent a few hours at the Los Angeles National Cemetery volunteering - with about a zillion Boy Scouts from the LA area and a couple of my students - readying the grounds for Memorial Day exercises to take place Monday. Our duties included placing a US flag at every soldier's grave. This was a rewarding as well as sobering experience and I recommend it for anyone who should ever get the chance to participate. The Scouts did an outstanding job and the proceeding ceremonies were complete with words offered by celebrity WWII veteran Jimmy Weldon (this is LA, after all). I was most impressed with the number of young people in attendance representing the vast diversity of the Los Angeles area. I overheard many a conversation concerning the origins and meaning of Memorial Day and left a little more confident that at least some of the younger generation carry with them a historical consciousness.