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Students Replace Flags On Veterans’ Graves

ANTHONY TOWNSHIP — Some students from the Danville Area School District got ready for Memorial Day by replacing the flags on veterans’ graves. Stude...
mont flags

ANTHONY TOWNSHIP -- Some students from the Danville Area School District got ready for Memorial Day by replacing the flags on veterans' graves.

Students walked into St. James Cemetery near Washingtonville with American flags in hand.  The students were on a mission replacing the flags on veterans' graves just in time for Memorial Day.

"You can tell they love coming out and doing this.  They love making sure that every veteran is honored," said Doug Resseguie, Montour County Director of Veterans Affairs.

The students had a lot of flags to replace.  They went to 18 different cemeteries with 400 flags in Montour County.

"Saves a lot of legwork for all of us veterans having to go out and do all this."

The students are eighth graders at Danville Area Middle School.

"At the beginning of the year, we learned about the Revolutionary War, then the government, then the War of 1812 and then we learned about the Civil War," said Joseph Rinaldi of Danville.

"I think it's really cool that we get to see all this amazing stuff and I think it's neat that all these people died who I didn't know about lived in Danville," said Justin Riedhammer of Danville.

In addition to putting the flags on the graves, the students got the opportunity to learn about the veterans themselves.

"The types of veterans from different wars that are buried in each cemetery, a little bit about the cemeteries, where they came from, how they originated," Resseguie added.

"It's really interesting to see all the veterans who we haven't even known were buried here from all those different wars," Peter Amarante of Danville.

The students tell Newswatch 16 this is a great way to take their lessons outside the classroom.

"It's fun to honor our nation to see that people did this for us and we can come out here and do something for them," Amarante added.

The director of Veterans Affairs in Montour County says boy scouts and girl scouts will replace the flags on graves in other cemeteries before Memorial Day.

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