As families all over the country prepare to hold modified Memorial Day cookouts while practicing social distancing due to COVID-19, a few local veterans did what they could to make sure we continue to honor our fallen service members. Friday morning a few local veterans from the American Legion Baty-Tucker Post 168 in Knoxville took to Graceland Cemetery to place flags and crosses on each of the veteran’s gravestones at the cemetery.

In any other year the cemetery would have been filled with local veterans as well as Boy and Girl Scouts posting flags along the roadways through the cemetery, but because of the current COVID-19 pandemic only a select few did what they could to continue to honor the veterans. According to the legion, no other special events are planned for Memorial Day; however the post asks all residents, if they are able, to post a flag at their home as a way to honor and remember the service members who paid the ultimate price for their country.