Honoring the past to build connections to the future

Accompanid by Mark Schreiber, president of the Riverview Cemetery board, Sasha Campbell reaches for the next flag to place after placing one in front of Carl Burkel's headstone. Campbell and Ashley Brent, at right, were among nearly two dozen National Honor Society  members volunteering their Monday morning to place flags at the headstones of U.S. veterans at Riverview Cemetery.
Accompanid by Mark Schreiber, president of the Riverview Cemetery board, Sasha Campbell reaches for the next flag to place after placing one in front of Carl Burkel's headstone. Campbell and Ashley Brent, at right, were among nearly two dozen National Honor Society members volunteering their Monday morning to place flags at the headstones of U.S. veterans at Riverview Cemetery.

The work of a group of Jefferson City High School students at Riverview Cemetery on Monday was as much about learning history as honoring it.

JCHS teacher Charlie Ledgerwood led a group that included about 15 students in National Honor Society, his 10-year-old son, C.J.; and his fiancée, Kathleen Turner, to mark the graves of veterans in the cemetery with American flags as Memorial Day nears.

This is the second year Ledgerwood and the students have volunteered to honor veterans' graves at Riverview in this way. "As a vet myself, I feel it's something that needs to be done," he said.

Ledgerwood serves in the Missouri National Guard and has been deployed multiple times, including four times in the state to assist in disasters and once to Afghanistan.

"I think they get a little bit of a history lesson," in addition to community service hours they need for National Honor Society and a chance to honor veterans who have passed on, he said.

For those who know where and how to look, a walk among the tombstones can lead to history leaping off the headstones.

The flat, ground-level markers provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs give some details - like the name, rank, service branch, war era, birth and death dates, religious affiliation and notable earned commendations of a service member, like a Bronze Star or Purple Heart. A few had to be uncovered after being partially buried by mud and plant debris after recent storms.

The volunteers used these bronze or stone markers to find the corresponding family headstone, if any, and planted flags there. Ledgerwood said they marked about 1,100 graves.

One family headstone denoted a U.S. Army veteran had served in the 75th Infantry Division in World War II. With a quick internet search by Ledgerwood, that brief inscription brought forth the framework of a compelling story; not even two weeks after landing in France in December 1944, the 75th Infantry Division found itself fighting in the Battle of the Bulge.

According to Army records, in 94 days of combat, 888 members of the division were killed, 2,970 wounded and 96 missing, of a total of 8,016 casualties. Division members received 1,287 Bronze Stars, 114 Silver Stars, 29 Air Medals, 21 Soldiers Medals, three Legions of Merit and three Distinguished Service Crosses.

"If people know more about their community, they're invested," Ledgerwood said. He added if people are invested in their community, they're more likely to settle there and help ensure the long-term health of the community.

He relayed that Riverview Cemetery Association General Manager Tim Theroff has said veterans' families appreciate the flags.

"They really sped things up for us," Riverview Cemetary Board President Mark Schreiber said. When he planted the flags by himself, it took him all day.

Ledgerwood said it took the group about four hours with eight people to plant the flags last year, and they did the work in about two hours this year.

"They save us an awful lot of time," Schreiber said. He said it makes him feel good to see young people volunteering. His father and brother-in-law were veterans, too.

"It was an honor for me to lay flags on the graves of those who've served our country," Stephen Rogers said. Rogers will be a junior this fall.

"It's not something you do every day," said Noah Gernander, who will be a senior.

Ledgerwood added: "It's a pretty decent way to spend the first Monday after school's out."