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ENLARGEBRADLEY WAKOFF/bwakoff@greeleytribune.com
Boy Scout Cruse Loop, 14, places a flag next to a veteran’s grave at Lakeview Cemetery in Windsor. Cruse joined other members of Windsor's Troop 88 as they placed both flags and white crosses at the graves of veterans Friday evening, in preparation for the upcoming Memorial Day holiday.
As a fierce wind gusted through the cemetery Friday afternoon, the notion of sacrifice in battlefield furies weighed on the mind of 15-year-old Shaun Parish.
Parish has helped Boy Scout Troop 88 place white crosses and American flags near the tombstones of hundreds of veterans in Windsor's Lakeview Cemetery the past several Memorial Day weekends.
"It has a lot of meaning for me, recognizing the people who deserve it, who have died for our country," Parish said. "It shows bravery beyond most normal people. I find it touching."
A dozen Scouts from the Windsor troop, plus a few members of Cub Scout Pack 57, decorated about 240 headstones Friday. Their work has become an added tradition to Windsor's Memorial Day ceremony, which is organized by American Legion Post 109 and dates back more than 60 years.
"I brought the Boy Scouts on board with this thing years ago when school was in session around Memorial Day," said Don Ludwig, a member of the Troop 88 committee.
That was about 20 years ago.
"They're not doing it for themselves," Ludwig said of the Scouts. "They're doing it for the people of Windsor."
As is tradition, the Scouts will also put poppies -- symbolic of Lt. Col. John McCrae's World War I poem "In Flander's Field" -- in the graveyard Monday morning and two young buglers -- this year Nate Overton, 12, and Lance Heyer, 19 -- will perform "Taps" during the ceremony.
"We don't cover the whole cemetery with the poppies. We just do the immediate area," Ludwig said.
About 150 people typically attend the hour-long ceremony, which begins at 10 a.m. Monday. Jim Cummings, adjunct of Post 109, will be master of ceremonies and Windsor Mayor Ed Starck will give the address.
Ludwig said more than a decade ago, the Windsor High School band led a march of veterans from downtown along Main Street to the cemetery.
That tradition ended when a law prohibited such marches on a highway, he said. The procession now begins on the west side of the cemetery, near the ball field, and ends in the middle of the cemetery.
"That's probably good, too, because our members in the legion are getting older and we couldn't walk that far," Ludwig said with a chuckle. "Most of our (members) are Korean (War) veterans and a few are Vietnam. None of them are very young anymore."
Henry Propp, a Korean War veteran and member of Post 109, said he appreciates the work of the Boy Scouts, who spent about two hours Friday fighting the blustery weather to pound the crosses into the grass.
"They're a great bunch of boys," Propp said. "They've got to be recognized because without them we'd have a heck of a time."
Memorial Day Ceremony
«What: American Legion Post 109 Memorial Day ceremony
«Where: Lakeview Cemetery in Windsor
«When: 10 a.m. Monday
«Other events: The Legion Post 109, 624 Ash St., will host a breakfast for veterans before Monday's ceremony. Biscuits and gravy will be served from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. Breakfast is free for veterans and $3 for everyone else.
«Other notes: If a veteran would like to join the color bearers, be at the cemetery by 9 a.m. If a veteran's headstone at Lakeview Cemetery didn't get a cross and flag, contact Don Ludwig at 686-9946.
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