JONESBORO, AR (KAIT) – Members of the Jonesboro community added some red, white and blue to the Jonesboro Memorial Park Cemetery Saturday morning.
The Jonesboro Elks Lodge #498 members placed flags at each veteran’s grave in the Garden of Honor.
One member and veteran said this takes him back to his service in World War Two.
“It’s sad on these days,” Elks Lodge member Bob King said.
“I think about all of the friends I lost.
We were in a lot of battles and we lost a lot of people.
That’s something I don’t forget. I’m very forgetful, but I don’t forget those days.
And we don’t want to forget our veterans because a lot of them sacrificed their lives for our country. And so that’s the reason I’m out here today.”
King has placed flags in the cemetery ever since the lodge started it almost a decade ago.
“I’ll keep doing it as long as I can get around,” King said.
King also shared one of his favorite memories from his service in WWII.
“On August 14, 1945, I was 20 years old and we were sailing into Japan to do some bombardment,” King said.
“All of a sudden, I hear all these aircraft guns going off and I thought we were being raided. But it so happened that Japan had surrendered on my birthday, my 20th birthday.
And I thought, ‘Well, they’re celebrating my birthday!’
It was so wonderful.
Then in November, I was discharged and I went home.
It was the best birthday present I ever had.”