At the National Cemetery in Westwood
Pacific Palisades Cub Scout Pack 223 joined thousands of other Scouts from around Los Angeles to place an American flag at more than 88,000 graves in the Los Angeles National Cemetery in Westwood on Saturday.
The Los Angeles National Flag placement, which began more than 40 years ago for Memorial Day, is marked by each Scout saying the name of the veteran and placing a flag by his or her grave.
Memorial Day, which is observed the last Monday of May, commemorates the men and women who died while in the military service. The day is to memorialize those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
A ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. on Monday at the National Cemetery, 950 S. Sepulveda Blvd. If you cannot make the ceremony, a national moment of remembrance takes place at 3 p.m. local time.
Memorial Day, a federal holiday, was first enacted after the American Civil War, which had claimed more lives than any other conflict in U.S. history and spurred the creation of the country’s first national cemeteries.
In 1868, General John Logan called for a nationwide day of remembrance and called the day “Decoration Day.” That year, 5,000 participants went to Arlington National Cemetery and decorated 20,000 Union and Confederate graves.
After World War I, the observance also included all fallen U.S. service members. In 1971, Memorial Day became a national holiday by act of Congress.