Memorial Day is the day when fallen veterans are remembered, honored, and mourned. On the Key Peninsula is the Vaughn Bay Cemetery, home to fallen veterans. Each Memorial Day, there is a ceremony to honor those who have passed. The Key Peninsula Veterans Association puts on the ceremony, which consists of a roll call for every buried veteran and guest speakers.

Memorial Day morning, 347 twelve-foot flag poles are set throughout the cemetery, each bearing the flag of the veteran’s country. Three are from Canada, one is from Germany, two are from Great Britain, two are from Scotland, and the rest are American. The flags are organized into two groups; one sits at the top of the hill, and each flag honors one veteran. On the other side of the road is a large field where each flag honors one or more veterans from any branch of the military. These flags are requested for specific people, but if a veteran that doesn’t already have a flag passes away, family members of the other veterans are contacted to ask if they would allow the recently passed veteran’s name to be placed on their pole as well. In the center of it all is a flag pole holding the American flag that flies at the cemetery every day. Seven smaller flag poles surround this one. Each pole flies the flag of a military branch: Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Navy, Army, Air Force, Merchant Marines, and the POW / MIA flag. This display of flags is the largest display west of the Mississippi, and the veterans are proud to say so.

Before dusk, every flag is taken down with great care, and the poles are hauled away to be kept in storage until next year. Once the cemetery is clear, all the flags are taken to the nearby Key Peninsula Civic Center to be folded and stored in their respective boxes. This year the veterans and Scout Troop 220 were joined by sailors from the USS CHICAGO (SSN 721) in folding the flags. There were 30 volunteers helping with set-up and tear-down at the cemetery this year.