VETERANS SHIFT TRIBUTE TO BIG FLAGS

The Cape Girardeau County Joint Veterans Council will no longer place small American flags on the graves of veterans buried in city cemeteries.

Chairman Larry McLaird said the council purchased sets of flags of the five branches of the military service and the American flag.

The flags will be raised in all of the cemeteries in Cape Girardeau at the same time the flag is raised during Monday's Memorial Day services.

"We want to let everyone know ahead of time what is going to happen, so there will be no misunderstanding when they do not see the flags on individual graves," said McLaird. "In the past, we tried to locate and place a small American flag on the graves of all of the veterans buried in our local cemeteries. Often, for one reason or another, we missed some of the grave sites.

"We will raise the flags of the Air Force, Navy, Army, Marine Corps and Coast Guard, and the American flag in the Old Lorimier Cemetery on Washington Street, St. Mary's Cemetery on Perry Avenue, Fairmount and New Lorimier Cemetery on Caruthers Street, and Memorial Park Cemetery.

"We feel this arrangement will be a much better tribute to those veterans and their families," McLaird said.

He said small American flags will be made available at no charge to families or relatives of deceased veterans who would like to place flags on veterans' graves. He said the flags can be picked up at the VFW post at 1019 N. Kingshighway, or at the Memorial Park cemetery office.