Volunteer Tricia Cashon helps restore the 35,000 flags that decorate Nashville’s National Cemetery.
Cub Scouts from around Middle Tennessee have finished washing, ironing and starching American flags that will decorate Nashville’s National Cemetery for Memorial Day.
More than 35,000 flags will accompany each of the white headstones that cover the rolling hills off Gallatin Road in perfect formation.
Tricia Cashon has volunteered for 23 years with the Hermitage scout district, which helps adorn the grave markers. She says the experience gained importance in 2004, while her son, a Marine, was deployed to Iraq.
“When you participate in the project through the eyes of having someone you love who is actively serving with the possibility that very soon you could be placing a flag on their grave, the flags start to look a little bit different.”
Cashon noticed the flags weren’t maintained properly. Some had missing or broken finials. Others were muddy and moldy from the previous year. Cashon now organizes the flag restoration project. Her scouts refurbish old flags and retire those that are too worn throughout the year.
600 volunteers will stake out the flags Saturday morning. They will remain through Memorial Day.
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