Volunteers Memorialize Veterans by Placing 100,000 Flags at Riverside National Cemetery

At least 1,000 volunteers will fan out across Riverside National Cemetery Saturday to place miniature American flags alongside the final resting places of more than 100,000 military veterans, in an effort that has quintupled in size since it began last year.

Cypress-based Honoring Our Fallen has organized the flag placement walks since Memorial Day 2012, when dozens of volunteers planted 21,000 flags at graves.

Brennan Leininger, a former U.S. Air Force serviceman and now-Anaheim police officer, brought attention to the fact that most of the burial plots had no flags when he visited Riverside National Cemetery on holidays in 2011.

Since then, Honoring Our Fallen has organized the placement walks, relying on the help of police Explorer troops, Boy Scouts, local families and others who wish to participate. More volunteers are always needed, according to the nonprofit.

"Our service members sacrifice so much to protect the freedoms we sometimes take for granted," said Leininger, a member of the Honoring Our Fallen Board of Directors. "These two holidays aren't just another day off school or work, another day to have a barbecue, or a day for shopping sales.

"These holidays honor the millions of people who have served this great country, and they deserve to be honored and remembered. This serves as a reminder to us all and is an experience that will remain deep in your heart for years to come."

Thanks to private and public donations, Honoring Our Fallen has been able to purchase more flags for each cemetery walk. In July, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors allocated $25,000 in community improvement funds, which can be used for any activity that has a discernable public benefit, for Honoring Our Fallen's flag purchases.

The flags cost about 60 cents apiece, according to Leininger.

There are more than 200,000 occupied plots at the cemetery, roughly 180,000 of which serve as the final resting places of military veterans, according to cemetery officials.

The 900-acre property is the fourth-largest national cemetery in the country.

Today's placement walk will get underway at 8 a.m. Volunteers will stage at the Veterans Ampitheatre, at the center of the cemetery grounds, 22495 Van Buren Blvd.

More information about the walks and how to make donations is available at www.honoringourfallen.org.

-City News Service