December 7, 2024

Flags In at Arlington National Cemetery

A coast guardsman assists in placing over 265,000 U.S. flags at every gravesite, columbarium court column, and niche wall column as part of Flags-In at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, May 27, 2021. For more than 50 years, soldiers from The Old Guard have honored our nation’s fallen military heroes by placing U.S. flags at the gravesites of service members buried at both Arlington National Cemetery and the U.S. Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home National Cemetery just prior to the Memorial Day weekend. For the first time in 20 years, members from the U.S. Marine Corps, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. Coast Guard placed flags alongside soldiers from The Old Guard across the 639 acres of Arlington National Cemetery. (U.S. Army photos by Elizabeth Fraser / Arlington National Cemetery / released)

Soldiers assigned to the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, known as “The Old Guard,” placed American flags at headstones in Arlington National Cemetery for Memorial Day. The tradition, which began more than 50 years ago, is known as “Flags In.”

This year, service members from the Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard helped soldiers place the flags.

About Author