Wayne Thomas hands out flags to DCS students. 
Brian Barden hands out American flags to decorate graves at the Dublin Cemetery. Credit: ASHLEY SAARI / Ledger-Transcript 
DCS students prepare to mark veteran’s graves with American flags. Credit: ASHLEY SAARI / Ledger-Transcript 
DCS students prepare to mark veteran’s graves with American flags. Credit: ASHLEY SAARI / Ledger-Transcript 
DCS students walk through Dublin Cemetery to mark veteran’s graves ahead of Memorial Day. Credit: ASHLEY SAARI / Ledger-Transcript 
DCS students walk through Dublin Cemetery to mark veteran’s graves ahead of Memorial Day. Credit: ASHLEY SAARI / Ledger-Transcript
Children from the Dublin Consolidated School gathered in the Dublin Cemetery to perform a solemn duty Thursday morning: Decorating each grave with a veteran’s marker with an American Flag, to honor them this Memorial Day.
It’s a task that has been done for years by a small group from the Dublin Memorial Day Committee, including Brian Barden, Didi Staples, Hank and Nancy Campbell and Wayne and Dee Thomas. It was a big task for a small group, with over 300 flags to place.
This year, in what the committee and DCS hope will become an annual tradition, they had a bevy of helpers.
Before taking flags and beginning to search the cemetery for markers, DCS Principal Nicole Pease impressed on the children that they should take the task seriously and as an honor.
“DCS has a long-standing tradition of supporting our military and veterans, and having an opportunity to place flags for Memorial Day is so meaningful,” Pease said in an interview with the Ledger-Transcript.
“This is something we’ve wanted to do for a long time, and hadn’t been able to make happen,” said Pease. “To see it finally happening, and knowing that this is something that we’ll be involved in for years to come, is very moving.”
Wayne Thomas, a Coast Guard veteran, said he was happy to see the children be involved with the town’s Memorial Day traditions.
“We’ve, over the years, tried to get the young people involved in the respect and honor that these veterans who went before us have done. Some served in combat, some did not, but they all deserve to be honored this Memorial Day,” said Thomas.
Thomas said he’d like to see the tradition carry on in the future.
“It’s going very well. The kids are very respectful. This is a golden opportunity for the school and for the local veterans,” Thomas said.
“I hope we can continue. They’ve got good eyes,” said Barden, an Army veteran, while escorting a group of elementary schoolers around one section of the cemetery, hunting for markers, some of which are hard to spot among commemorative plantings. “We’re not going to be here forever; somebody’s going to have to take it over.”
The Dublin Memorial Day celebrations will be held on Monday, May 25. The parade kicks off at 11:15 a.m. from the Yankee Publishing parking lot and proceeds to the cemetery. At 1 p.m., in front of Town Hall, there will be a special dedication ceremony for the two newly installed bronze plaques, which are honor rolls for veterans of the Vietnam and Korean wars.