Local veterans and Boy Scouts from Troop 2998 sponsored by the Mesquite 7th Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints worked together to place United States flags near veteran’s graves at the Mesquite City Cemetery on Saturday, May 23, 2015. Veterans and scouts worked together in teams to make sure that the flags were placed at correct locations. There are 151 veterans buried in the cemetery.
First Row are Caden Graves, Ashton Roman, Luke Wahl, Bridger Toone, Daxon Toone and Tristan Roman. Back row are Veterans Ed Fizer, Roger Gessell, Chuck Caldwell and Harold Straley. Submitted photo.
“It was great opportunity for our scouts to rub shoulders with local veterans and remember those that have given so much for our freedom,” stated Ryan Toone, Scoutmaster for Troop 2998. “It is important that our youth have opportunities like this to learn to be respectful and to appreciate what they have,” Toone added.
After the project was completed, Mesquite Veteran, Ed Fizer, spoke to the scouts about his experience serving in the military. He taught the scouts about those that served defending our country and “the legacy of the greatest generation.” Mr. Fizer also spoke to the youth about the reason we celebrate Memorial Day.
Mern Hafen and Dacen Cox identified the graves of the veterans and cemented the holders for the flags for their Eagle projects. Several other Eagle projects have been done at the cemetery; Preston Cook built a structure to display a map in 2001, Lance Jensen made a map showing the location of all of the graves and typed names on a computer program, located and identified the graves of veterans and placed a flag holder next to the graves in 1988, and Boe John Jensen put in the first flag pole at the cemetery entrance in 1984.
