SLIDESHOW: Volunteers Place Flags at 2,500 Veterans Graves

The largest crowd ever placed more than 2,500 flags on Veterans graves at Edgell Grove Cemetery in Framingham in record time.

By 10 a.m., Boys Scouts from Pack 78 and Pack 12 were no longer place flags at grave sites but collecting the old flags, so they could be incinerated properly.

Girl Scouts, Boys Scouts, families, McAuliffe Charter School students are exactly the volunteers we need each year, said Framingham Veterans Agent Peter Harvell. ”With all the hills at this cemetery and thousands of graves, youth and enthusiasm gets the job done.”

Harvell estimated more than 75 volunteers had arrived by 9:30 a.m., but volunteers continued to arrive until 10 a.m.

One of the volunteers was retired Naval Admiral John “Jack” Walsh, 90. He too removed old flags from grave sites, some that date back to the the American Revolution and the Civil War, and placed new flags at each Veterans’ marker.

He said it was important to pass on the history of these Veterans to a new generation.

The Scouts and students were asked to read the name for each Veteran as they placed the new flags.

Harvell told the youth that they may be the only individuals to mention that Veterans’ name all year.

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Photos by Petroni Media Company. Click on the link below to view a slideshow of more than 60 photos.