Twice a year, an amazing display of flags goes up here at Orange Grove-Graceland Cemetery on Broad Street. It's not only special because of their beauty, but because each is a flag that was draped over the casket of a U.S. War veteran.
"The flags are so large and so sacred, it's hard to display a flag like this at your home," said Kevin Cooley, with the Sons of the American Revolution. "The families are very eager to come bring those flags to us, so they can come out twice a year and see their family members flag fly."
The display goes up on Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Volunteers like Boy Scouts help set them up at daylight and take them down before dusk. People come from all around to see the flag display and remember.
"People just love walking through, driving through," said Ted Harless. "We have buses of people who come through from out of town, from Shreveport. They'll come from Texas. They just love coming and seeing the Avenue."
When the Sons of the American Revolution started accepting the flags they began with 50. Now there are over 853 in their collection.
"We normally get about ten to twenty five flags a year," said Harless. "These we just recently got in and you can see right here, we're up to 853 at a moment, on our way to a thousand flags which will be still the largest display of flags in the United States."
That's why we honor the Sons of the American Revolution as this week's Hometown Patriots.
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