Volunteers clean hundreds of headstones in Anchorage during Memorial Day weekend
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Over a hundred volunteers spent Saturday cleaning the headstones of veterans buried in Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery.
American Legion Jack Henry Post 1 partnered with NuVision Credit Union to organize the headstone cleaning, which they have done for the last four years.
This year, organizers were excited to be able to expand beyond the designated Veteran’s tract to other buried veterans in the cemetery, which is the final resting place of approximately 1,650 veterans.
“It’s important because we are a nation. Because these people have chosen to take up arms to protect us,” said Laura Dean, first vice commander of American Legion Post 1. “Whether they were part of the revolution, which - we don’t have any revolution veterans up here - but they’re why we are a nation is because we have these veterans that were willing to sacrifice their life for us; and so honoring them is an imperative.”
In addition to the headstone cleaning, the American Legion Auxiliary also places crosses or stars of David with poppies at the graves of veterans. Poppies are a traditional symbol of sacrifice dating back to the years after World War I.
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