MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Scouts from across the Mid-South spent Saturday morning honoring those who served and died for their country.
For the 32nd year, a ceremony honoring veterans was followed by placement of flags on graves at Memphis National Cemetery.
In under an hour, the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and American Heritage Girls placed 42,000 flags.
Before the scouts started their tradition, it took cemetery workers a week to put the flags out.
The first year the scouts helped, it took a full day.
At the same time this was happening, hundreds of Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, Civil Air Patrol cadets, and family members placed more than 18,000 flags on the headstones at the West Tennessee Veterans Cemetery on Forest Hill Irene Road.
The Eastern District of the local Chickasaw Council of the Boy Scouts of America organizes the event each year.
More than 1,000 graves are added each year at the cemetery.