Waukesha Veterans Place Flags on Graves for Memorial Day

The VFW Post 721-Waukesha, the Soat-Vergenz Post, spent Wednesday morning in the drizzling rain placing an American flag on the graves of veterans who are buried in the Prairie Home Cemetery.

About a dozen veterans were in the cemetery placing the flags on more than 1,700 graves. Dave Matuszak, the commander of the local VFW post, estimated he placed 160 flags on the graves.

"It is just paying tribute to fellow comrades who have passed away," Matuszak said. "Sometimes I like to actually call them by their names when I walk by and say ‘Hey’ to them. I tell them we are trying real hard to not forget about anybody."

 Matuszak said he believes the community appreciates the work the veterans do in remembering those who have passed away.

"It is a tribute to their family members that we didn’t forget them either," he said.

The flags are donated and the veterans have been placing the flags on the graves at the Prairie Home Cemetery for more than 50 years.

There are bout 2,000 known veterans interred at Prairie Home Cemetery, with the earliest recorded burial occuring in 1841, according to a news release from the cemetery.