It appeared last week the novel coronavirus was about to claim another victim.
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TORRINGTON – It appeared last week the novel coronavirus was about to claim another victim.
John Temple, commander of VFW Post 2918 in Torrington, told The Telegram last week volunteers who usually helped put individual flags and poppy wreaths on the graves of veterans at Valley View Cemetery were all prohibited from traveling. That meant there wouldn’t be enough people available to assist with the annual decorations.
The service is typically performed by volunteers from the Wyoming Medium Correctional Facility in Torrington and cadets from the Wyoming Challenge Academy in Guernsey, Temple said. Travel restrictions meant the WMCI volunteers and the cadets were prohibited from traveling to Torrington to participate, he said.
It meant services normally planned for Memorial Day had to be cancelled. What rankled as much was the fact there weren’t enough people to put out the decorations. Members of the Travis Snow Post No. 5 of the American Legion in Torrington were still planning for the annual Avenue of Flags, lining the roadways at Valley View Cemetery with poles, each supporting Ol’ Glory. But something would definitely be missing without decorating the individual graves.
And that didn’t sit well with Lacey Burkart, a member of the Yoder Volunteer Fire Department. When she learned via social media there wouldn’t be decorations to honor the memory of people who’d put it on the line, she decided to do something about it.
“I heard it wasn’t going to be done this year,” Burkart said Saturday. “I put out a call to the fire department. I asked if anyone was interested in helping and here we are.”
So, shortly after 9 a.m. Saturday, more than a dozen people of all ages associated with the Yoder VFD – people who are used to putting it all on the line for their neighbors – fanned out across the cemetery grounds. In no time at all, wreaths and flags began appearing in front of scores of graves, honoring those who’d served.
“It only took about 20 minutes to get this all organized,” Burkart said. “To come up with this group of people to decorate the graves. We got the wreathes from the American Legion and here we are.”
