Monday, May 21, 2012

VFW veterans and CFPD Cadets restore Copperopolis Cemetery Flagpole

On May 17, 2012 members of the Copperopolis VFW Post 12118 and Copperopolis Fire protection District Cadets spent a morning repairing and erecting the Copperopolis Cemetery flagpole in preparation for the VFW Memorial Day flag ceremony to be held May 28, 2012 at 8 am at the Copperopolis Cemetery. 






Earlier in the week Commander Gilbert and Quartermaster/Adjutant Ralph Murphy removed the existing pole in order to straighten, prime and re-thread it. With the help of Senior Vice Commander Bill Skellenger, the pole was threaded correctly and ready to paint and install.


On May 17 Commander Al Gilbert, Quartermaster/Adjutant Ralph Murphy, Post Advocate Rich Dost, Charity Maness, and CFPD Cadets Marshall Maness and Levi Rollings spent the morning assembling, resetting and painting the repaired flagpole. Gilbert welcomed the help of the CFPD Cadets, "Marshall and Levi were outstanding volunteers, they helped paint the pole and with their youthful enthusiasm, the pole was pulled and pushed back into place in short order." Rollings, after helping out was impressed with the veterans saying they "were real cool guys." 
After the pole was standing tall Gilbert, Murphy, Dost and Charity finished charting the cemetery, identifying all the Veterans graves and documenting their locations on a map designed by Gilbert. The map will be used by the 4H youth and Post Veterans to help locate and place flags on veterans headstones during the Memorial Day Ceremony. 
The Memorial Day Ceremony is May 28th at 8am in the Copperopolis Cemetery. This will be the first official VFW Post 12118 Ceremony. Come be another part of history making in our community.
For more pictures click HERE