'Thank you for your service': Volunteers honor veterans at West Dundee cemetery
Row by row, they combed the grave markers, seeking out names of military veterans.
"Thank you for your service," Dale Bramer would say every time they found one, then poke a hole in the ground. Friend of 65-plus years Dennis Colborn would fill that hole with an American flag. Marker by marker, row by row they searched for names that matched the list Colborn's wife Marge carried.
The trio have been volunteering together for 10 years, honoring veterans before Memorial Day at River Valley Memorial Gardens cemetery in West Dundee.
They started when the Colborn's brother-in-law, an Army veteran, was buried there.
"We decided what better thing to do than to honor all the fallen heroes," Marge Colborn said. Her father, a World War II veteran, also is buried at the cemetery. "And we had so much fun the first year, we just kept coming back."
About 1,450 veterans are buried at the cemetery, manager Alison Wisette said. They've put flags on the graves and held a Memorial Day observance every year since the cemetery opened 60 years ago. Four groups of volunteers braved the cold, damp weather Friday morning.
Monday's Memorial Day ceremony begins at 11:30 a.m.