Augusta, Maine - First Lady Ann LePage is partnering with the Maine State American Legion to take part in a Grave Flag Ceremony on Memorial Weekend. Governor Paul LePage is also expected to attend the event with the First Lady. The event will take place on Saturday, May 26, 2012 at 9:00 am at the Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery.
There are four locations which will be participating in the event including the Maine Veterans Memorial Cemeteries in Augusta, Springvale, and Caribou. Participants will be placing a flag on the grave of every veteran, totaling 14,000 throughout the state. The program was started in May of 2007, and the turnout in volunteers has steadily increased every year since.
“This Grave Flag Ceremony is a tremendous opportunity to pay respects to our veterans from all wars,” said First Lady Ann LePage. “I am honored to join the volunteers from all over Maine to participate in this event. Mainers are enormously supportive of our men and women in uniform, and our veterans, as demonstrated by this event,” continued the First Lady.
Volunteers will start their morning at the top of the hill near the flag pole in the veteran’s cemetery for prayer, introductions and instructions. The volunteers will then spread out to place the flags on each grave.
To date, over $25,000 in donations has been raised for this annual event. The flags, all tools needed to place the flags on the graves, plus the storage building to house the flags have been donated by private funding. Some 300 volunteers from World War II, 4H and Operation Military Kids, are expected on Saturday morning along with the Maine Public Safety Pipe and Drum Corps. These volunteers pay tribute to veterans buried in the Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery, ensuring that these brave men and women are not forgotten.
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