As a Commissioner for Special Needs District in Boy Scouts of America and a military wife for 21 years of a partially disabled (USAF, ret.) vet, there’s a lot of behind the scenes others may not know about regarding Memorial Day. I’d like to tell you about this low-key but special action about this Veteran’s Day that you’re unlikely to read in national or local media.
You can be proud of many of our very young…. that Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts across the nation have several special missions regarding war veterans and other veterans who have served in non-war times; many Boy Scout troops lay out small flags at grave sites of veterans including Fort Logan National Cemetery, Denver. There are more than 140 military cemeteries nationwide, as well as overseas. There are also Boy Scout troops in which are Muslim children, South African children, Korean and Russian children and children from many other nations… and all honor the living and the dead.
Those soldiers who served and died overseas are not forgotten by Boy Scouts from foreign nations either. Many of our fathers and uncles and older brothers and friends were laid to rest in the soil of France, Belgium, Asia and the Pacific and many many other parts of the world. Their cemeteries and graves are most often well kept and memorials of gratitude have been placed all over Europe, Asia, Russia and the Pacific commemorating the very young who went to war and who died far from home. They are still ours.
In the US, certain Boy Scout troops also volunteer nationwide to help wives and husbands and children of soldiers who are deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan presently, the families often in heavy need economically, socially and every way one can think of for a lone parent, often based at an Army, USAF or Naval base far from home, and usually raising several young children…. Prayers for their strength are always appreciated. Lending a hand to Scouts who lend a hand for fix-ups, transit, small entertainments and tutoring for children of vets is also appreciated whenever, however one can.