One of the things that greatly impressed me during my visit to the cemeteries at Hillside, Champion and Brookside, Watertown last year was the American flags beside the Vets grave and the fire-fighter's flags beside the graves of fireman. It is something that we do not do in this country and even thought I am a fifth generation Australian I was thrilled that my sixth generation grandfather's service in the War of 1812 was acknowledged. Marianne Marianne Tripp Punshon Victoria Australia Researching: Aughey, Collins, Stewart, Tripp in Australia Aughey, Newton, Miller in Ireland Tripp in New York State, Ohio & Oregon, USA: Manitoba, Canada Lawson in New York State, USA: Scotland and Canada > Very lovely and stiring picture. I do have to take a little exception with > the question of why the press doesn't cover this. Although it's on a much > smaller scale, vet organizations all over the country take care of vets' > graves. When I was a kid I'd spend Memorial Day morning traveling to > various cemetaries in NNY with my Great-Uncle and we would place flags on > the graves of vets from the Revolution through Korea. For 3 or 4 years I > played "Taps" on my trumpet at a couple of them. > > I'm sure that gets repeated over and over from one end of this country to > the other, as it should always be.