In Loving Memory : Volunteers Say It’s Their Duty to Clean, Decorate Graves of War Veterans

For many who gathered Saturday at Loma Vista Memorial Park, the names on the grave markers were unfamiliar.

But as the visitors walked along the rows of graves, placing American flags and white crosses on either side of some markers, they recognized that the lives of those being honored this weekend were significant. They had been American war veterans.

“They were in the military, they deserve the respect to be recognized for what they did, and I feel that it’s my duty to do this,” said Bryan MacLean, 18, one of scores of volunteers helping prepare this cemetery for Memorial Day ceremonies to be held Monday.

Duty is not a word MacLean and his buddies use lightly. They were among a dozen high school students at the cemetery who have taken oaths to join the Marine Corps. Some have already received their dates to ship out for boot camp.

“Some of these were military servicemen who died in a battle, which we may have to do in our future,” said Tom Seiver, 17. “As part of the Marine Corps, if we have to die, that’s part of our job.”

It was the lack of patriotism in their everyday lives that drew others to the cemetery on Saturday.

“I go through my day and I don’t think about my country very often,” said Diana Katayama, 39, of Fullerton, who volunteered with her 7-year-old daughter, Lauren Tucker. But after visiting the graves of the veterans, she said she was reminded they had contributed “far more to the American life. This is a wonderful way to show our respect for them and to honor that.”

Fullerton resident Michele Adile, 28, said she and her children began participating last year in an effort to show her children that Memorial Day is more than an occasion set aside for a barbecue.

“I thought it was something we could do together and experience something more about Memorial Day,” she said. “I think people get wrapped up in the idea that it is just a holiday to go on vacation during a three-day weekend, and forgetting what we are really supposed to be celebrating.”

Among those driving flags and crosses into the ground was Julie Byrd, 31, who was left disabled after an automobile accident 14 years ago. It was the first time she had volunteered at the cemetery, but she said it would not be her last.

“I am a disabled person and I figure the good Lord left me here, so I might as well do good things,” Byrd said.

She had joined a crew from Fullerton Moose Lodge 339, which has made the Memorial Day preparations an annual volunteer project.

But for member Ila Chaidez, 35, the annual task is part of a lifelong tradition that she began when she was 5 years old.

“My dad is buried in a national cemetery and I like to think that someone is doing this for his grave,” Chaidez said as tears welled in her eyes.

In all, about 3,000 crosses and flags were placed at the grave sites of war veterans in preparation for Fullerton’s 55th annual Memorial Day observance that begins at 10 a.m. Monday.

As the work was almost done, coordinator Mary Little said she would probably finish up with what has become her own quiet tradition--remembering those who are buried there, including her son-in-law, who suffered from post-traumatic stress from the Vietnam War.

“After everybody leaves, I sit here and I cry a little,” she said. “I will not give this up. It’s very dear to me.”