Year after year, flag by flag, Bill Boyd used to soldier up and down the grassy slope of Hillcrest Cemetery, pushing the wooden stems of American flags into the ground next to the graves of United States veterans.
On his own head, he wore a cap that signified his own military service.
A veteran of World War II's Pacific theater, Boyd's service to those heroes meant the world to him. So every spring, the former Marine would troop off to the burial ground with armloads of those flags. He would carefully stoop by each grave and present one to each soldier.
He started his tradition in the early 1980s. By the spring of 1988, Boyd had been decorating these graves for about eight years. That's when he talked to the Fulton Sun about his service and what decorating the graves meant to him.
"For many years, when I came home from the service, I wouldn't have anything to do with cemeteries or anybody dying," he said in the May 29, 1988, Fulton Sun story. "It took many years for me to come out of that, but thankfully, I did."
Boyd said he started by decorating the grave of his father, Clyde, and leaving behind a flag. Then he also started decorating the grave of a friend, W.K. Holland, a Navy corpsman who died in 1944 in the Battle of Guam while giving first aid to an injured Marine.
"From then on, it just grew," Boyd said of his effort. "The first year, I started out with 25 flags and this year, we'll just go until we run out, I guess."
Boyd, a member of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars organizations, placed hundreds if not thousands of flags on graves. In the 1988 article, he said he felt a personal responsibility to the observance of Memorial Day.
"I'm also a member of the Society of Forty and Eight, a special group that's part of the American Legion," Boyd said. "People are initiated into the Forty and Eight, and one of the things they pledge is to keep Memorial Day sacred. That's all - just keep it sacred. Well, why not?"
Boyd said in 1988, Hillcrest Cemetery was a special place for veterans because four father/son soldier pairs were buried there. Now, Boyd is also buried there, next to his father, a veteran of World War I.
This spring, someone else put the flags on their graves. Willie Boyd, Bill Boyd's son, said he appreciates that.
"I'll go over there this weekend and put flowers on their graves - several graves," said Willie Boyd. "Mom and Dad were of a generation that were very cognizant of Memorial Day."
In the 1988 newspaper article, Boyd said there are veterans from every 20th century conflict buried at Hillcrest, and he wanted to recognize them all. He mentioned that decorating the graves was his special way of observing the holiday.
"Yeah, I'm kind of sentimental - more sentimental than I ought to be," he said in the article. "And this time of year really does it to me, I guess."
About Boyd
Bill Boyd was born Dec. 14, 1921, in Jasper County and died July 26, 2002, in Fulton. His father, Clyde R. Boyd of East Fifth Street, served as a city attorney and judge after serving in World War I - a veteran of five battles. The family title business handed down by Clyde R. Boyd is still run by his descendents in Fulton.
According to accounts, Bill Boyd was a Boy Scout leader and worked at the Fulton Daily Sun-Gazette as a kid, first as a carrier and then helping customers in the circulation department.
"I am interested in anything that looks or smells like a newspaper," he declared in a 1938 Fulton Sun article naming him the "Little Merchant."
Willie Boyd said his father enlisted right away in the U.S. Marines after World War II broke out.
"The war started in 1941 and he enlisted," Willie Boyd said. "He was considered to be an officer candidate."
So many young men enlisted that Marine officials had a hard time getting everyone trained. Boyd lingered in college for a time, growing ever impatient, his son said.
"He wrote to the Marines - I have the letter - and said he wanted to be involved. He wanted to waive officer training and go over as an enlisted man, and that's what happened," Willie Boyd said.
His father was also proud that he had a low serial number in the Marines - a branch of the military that grew in popularity during the wars of the early 20th century.
"He had one less digit than most people have," Willie Boyd said of his father's serial number.
Boyd enlisted as a private, but didn't stay at that rank. On May 10, 1945, he was promoted to sergeant - a rank his father also held.
In 1944, Boyd saw action at the Battle of Tinian, one of the Marianas Island held by the Japanese army. A garrison of 9,000 Japanese soldiers defending the island was eliminated, and 4,000 Japanese civilians died through suicide, murder by the Japanese soldiers or in combat. One Japanese outpost on the island held out until the end of the war, surrendering on Sept. 4, 1945. The final Japanese soldier on Tinian, Murata Susumu, wasn't captured until 1953, living in a small shack near a swamp.
Boyd's war ended when he came home to Fulton, arriving Dec. 24, 1945, Willie Boyd said.
"He got home from the war Dec. 24 - Christmas Eve," he said. "He always just loved that song, 'I'll Be Home for Christmas.'"
Boyd was married to Mary Lee Muir Boyd and they had two sons, Willie and his brother, Jack. After retirement, Boyd and his wife traveled in their motor home with their dog Snoopy and visited all 50 states. He became a past president of the Kiwanis Club and was honored for five years of perfect attendance.
Willie Boyd said he remembers his father decorating the graves of veterans with American flags.
"He liked doing that; he put a lot of effort into finding people out there at the cemetery who served in the military," he said.
According to Willie Boyd, his father also created a map of the cemetery locating the graves of veterans, then passed the map onto others who continue the tradition today.
Dave Beaver, commander of the local American Legion Post of which Boyd was a member, said about 1,020 flags were put on the flags of veterans this year in Fulton; flags also were offered to anyone wishing to decorate graves in Callaway County. He said he's been decorating graves about 15, 20 years now, and it's hard to put a flag on the grave of someone you know.
"If you know these gentlemen, you catch yourself talking to them," he added. "The World War II vets are almost completely gone now."
He personally installed 600 flags at the Callaway Memorial Gardens on Wednesday, he said.
"It's a pretty inspiring thing to do," said Beaver, a Vietnam War veteran.
Boyd said he's very proud of his father and his efforts for veterans.
"I'm very proud of the whole thing," Willie Boyd added. "I know how proud he was of having served in the United States Marines, too."
IF YOU GO: Memorial Day Service
When: 11 a.m. Monday Where: Callaway Memorial Gardens, 1700 S. Business 54, Fulton