‘My hope is to teach everyone that we honor veterans everyday’

A member of the Sons of The American Legion Detachment of California hopes to draw the Legion Family and others to events aimed at honoring veterans in seven Eastern states in the week leading up to Veterans Day.

Preston Sharp developed Veterans Flags & Flowers after noticing a lack of flags and flowers on veterans’ graves in a cemetery in Redding, Calif., when he went to his grandfather’s grave on Veterans Day in 2015. The then-10-year-old Sharp set a goal to place a flag and flower on each veteran’s grave in that cemetery, and soon set his goal for more cemeteries.

Sharp’s program spurred the creation of Flying Flags for Heroes, the service project of SAL National Commander Michael Fox during his leadership year in 2021-22.

“My hope is to teach everyone that we honor veterans everyday and not just on a holiday,” Sharp said.

So far, he’s honored 350,000 veterans in 43 states. The events scheduled for Nov. 4-10 will help him reach all 50 states, but he also wants to honor veterans overseas.

Sharp said each event starts with the Pledge of Allegiance, the playing of taps if possible, and speeches, including Sharp’s own story of he got started.

“We place a flag and a red carnation and say the veteran’s name out loud and thank them for their service. We do that because a veteran’s name not said out loud is a veteran forgotten,” Sharp said.

The schedule:

Nov. 4: Mt. Pleasant Memorial Cemetery, Mt. Pleasant, S.C., 10 a.m.

Nov. 5: Michigan Memorial Park Cemetery, Flat Rock, Mich., 10 a.m.

Nov. 6: Meadow Green Memorial Park, Huron, Ohio, 10 a.m.

Nov. 7: Mt. Calvary Cemetery, Wheeling, W.Va., 10 a.m.

Nov. 8: Forest Hills/Shalom Memorial Park, Huntingdon Valley, Pa., 10 a.m.

Nov. 9: Lake View Memorial Park, Cinnaminson, N.J., 10 a.m.

Nov. 10: Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery, Millsboro, Del., 8:30 a.m.

For more information on Veterans Flags & Flowers, click here.