Students place flags at Fort Custer National Cemetery, honor lives of veterans
Students at Loy Norrix plant flags at Fort Custer National Cemetery
Gallery: Students at Loy Norrix plant flags at Fort Custer National Cemetery
By Bryan Bennett | bbennett@mlive.com
AUGUSTA, MI -- Students from Kalamazoo's Loy Norrix High School on Thursday honored veterans both living and dead, placing American flags at graves in Fort Custer National Cemetery and visiting veterans at the Battle Creek VA Medical Center.
"We'll give out 2,000 flags in the (Kalamazoo) Memorial Day Parade coming up on Monday, but this was 650 flags that they put down today," Loy Norrix teacher Sveri Stromsta May said from Fort Custer of the 64 students who placed flags on gravesites.
This is the 20th year students from Loy Norrix have taken part in the Memorial Day preparations at the cemetery, where the annual Memorial Day ceremony will take place at 2 p.m. Sunday.
For some, it hit close to home.
"My great-grandfather was in World War II when he fought in the Battle of the Bulge," said student Seth Gruber.
"When I told my mom we were coming to Fort Custer, she actually started to break down and cry a little bit because she said that Papa was there. Going there and being able to honor him and give him his salute, it's something I've never done, because I've never been here before. It was pretty special to me, " he said of the opportunity to place a flag at his great-grandfather's grave.
"I think he would think that it's very honorable because he knows the importance of what it meant to serve his country," the Loy Norrix sophmore said.
Later Thursday, students from the Kalamazoo high school were headed to the Battle Creek VA Medical Center as part of their Living History Project for Loy Norrix.
For the past 20 years, teachers Sean Bergan and May have taken their 10th-grade U.S. History classes to the VA to interview veterans of WWII, the Korean, Vietnam and Persian Gulf wars about their life stories.
"In March, they interviewed veterans," May said of the students and their project, from the cemetery Thursday morning. "They have now written their life stories and researched their lives. When we go have lunch for our celebration luncheon, they'll give their notebooks back to their veterans."
Bryan Bennett is a multimedia specialist for MLive. Contact him at bbennett@mlive.com