Emotions run high as Eastern Iowa volunteers honor deceased veterans

CEDAR RAPIDS - Johnathon Endicott said he loved that his grandfather always had vanilla sandwich cookies in his pantry he could eat whenever he came over.

Even with happy memories like this, Saturday marked an emotional day for the 11-year-old from Cedar Rapids, as well as his mother Carmen Endicott and younger brother, Joseph, 9.

Endicott said her father - Martin Osier - died in September at age 73. This is their first Memorial Day without Osier, who served in the Navy for four years.

On Saturday, the Endicotts were joined by more than 100 other volunteers at Cedar Memorial to pay respects to those deceased veterans whose final resting place is in the Cedar Rapids cemetery.

Every year over Memorial Day weekend, volunteers from all walks of life put more than 6,700 American flags at the gravesites of veterans as a way to recognize their service, said event coordinator Ryan Stevenson.

'It's great. I just think this is a good opportunity to do something patriotic on a weekend like this,” said Jo Dvorak, 79, of Cedar Rapids, who volunteered Saturday with her husband, Don Dvorak, 83.

Endicott, 40, said she heard about the effort through her sons' Boy Scout groups. Although they weren't assigned the garden where her father was buried, they planned 'to stop by and check on his flag.”

'It's his first year, so I wanted to make sure he was on the list,” she said.

'It's nice to honor grandpa though, isn't it?” she asked Joseph, tears in his eyes.

The day was meant to honor all veterans, not just those who died in combat.

Each year leading up to the holiday, a list of deceased veterans is collected up until the end of April by the Cedar Rapids Veterans Memorial Commission. That list is then paired with information from the Cedar Memorial Cemetery office, which includes the individual plot numbers and locations.

'It's one of those things I feel needs to be done and it's an honor to be able to do it,” said Stevenson, who spent four years in the U.S. Navy himself.

Saturday also marked an emotional day for Jerene 'Jeri” Thomas, who officially handed down her position as event coordinator to Stevenson this year.

'It's my swan song,” said Thomas, 79, who has been a part of the event for the past 41 years.

Planting flags at Cedar Memorial is a decades-old Memorial Day tradition that was started in the 1960s by Thomas's mother, Irene Roscoe.

Over the years, its grown exponentially from honoring a few dozen veterans to thousands across the cemetery's gardens and lawns thanks to the help of volunteers.

'The last five or six years, we had too many volunteers,” Thomas said.

Stevenson said he had been volunteering at the event for a few years when he volunteered to take over for Thomas.

'It's an honor to be able to do it to support our veterans who have passed away,” he said.

Stevenson said organizers also need volunteers on Tuesday to collect the flags and return them to storage for the year in the Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Those interested in assisting the effort can meet with organizers at Cedar Memorial, 4200 First Ave. NE, at 8 a.m. Tuesday.

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