Veterans commemorated with 25,000 American flags at national cemetery on Memorial Day

As a bagpiper played “Amazing Grace” from an adjacent row of graves, U.S. Navy veteran Joe Jiampetti tapped a small American flag precisely two and a half inches into the ground and 12 inches in front of the headstone of Larry Tate, a soldier who fought in Vietnam.

Jiampetti stood tall in his crisp white uniform and read Tate’s name aloud, then saluted him.

He turned sharply on his right heel, took three strides to the next grave and performed the same ritual of respect for Frank Gardner — a U.S. Army corporal during World War II whose headstone is engraved with the words “until we meet again.”

Jiampetti kept hammering, voicing names and saluting — for Kellem T. Lee Jr, a Persian Gulf War veteran and “beloved father;” for Alex Meshbane, who served in World War II and “liked his soup hot;” for Margaret C. Wolf, a Korean War vet and “loving wife and mother;” for Charles Meadow, a World War II Army lieutenant “in our hearts forever” who survived a POW camp.

Jiampetti joined hundreds of volunteers Sunday at the South Florida National Cemetery, where they placed more than 25,000 flags at the final resting places of U.S. military veterans and their relatives.

They roamed across 338 acres in Lake Worth to make sure no one was forgotten, to make sure each person was honored with a red, white and blue symbol of patriotic sacrifice.

The cemetery, one of five in Florida and 125 in the United States, opened in 2007. It looks like a smaller, subtropical version of Arlington, with its long lines of simple marble headstones stretching across former farmland under white clouds unfurling in the warm breeze. A Memorial Day ceremony will be held Monday, but is not open to the public this year due to lingering COVID-19 concerns.

One section leads to another, and another. Some 25,000 stories of valor. It’s become a quaint word, patriotism, but the volunteers who came to thank loved ones and comrades believe it still has a powerful meaning.

“Memorial Day is special to me personally but it should be special to every American,” said Jiampetti, whose father, a Korean War combat veteran, is buried in Section 48. “It’s more than steak and hamburgers on the grill. It’s more than a long weekend.”

Two middle school Navy Sea Cadets mentored by Jiampetti expressed the same sentiment. Mia Levine, 14, and Zoie Quevedo, 13, dressed in their white uniforms and sailor caps for flag-laying duties, have relatives who served in Vietnam. Quevedo’s grandfather is buried in Section 53.

“It’s really important to salute them, respect their legacy and honor those who risked their lives for us,” said Levine, who wants to attend the U.S. Naval Academy. “Without them, we would not enjoy the freedom we take for granted.

“It’s an emotional rollercoaster of feelings today — you’re sad, proud, grateful.”

Quevedo said most of her friends will spend Memorial Day at the beach or pool, taking a day off to party but “totally missing the true meaning of the holiday,” she said.

“As different generations of veterans pass away, many of their experiences don’t get passed on,” she said. “We want to preserve their names, their history.”

Anne Marie Oto kissed the headstone of her father, Godfrey Thomas, who served in the Air Force during the Korean War and died in 2019.

“We want to let him know that he is forever loved and irreplaceable,” Oto said of her father, who was a barber in Pittsburgh before he moved to Lake Worth. “He told me he wanted to serve in the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba but my mother said no. He got to fly with the Blue Angels. But he would never tell me about the bad stuff.”

She lives in Wellington and is a team leader for Flags for Fallen Vets, which raises money and deploys volunteers for flag-laying events nationwide. It’s a tradition for Oto, whose assigned Section 19 has grown from 60 graves to 900 in five years.

“It’s a bittersweet day,” she said. “You hear ‘Taps’ and the roar of the Harleys. You see people crying and laughing and reminiscing. No matter what’s going on in the world, everyone gets along inside the cemetery for the same reason.

“If it wasn’t for the people buried here, you wouldn’t be having your barbeque.”

Joe Murphy, a Marine Corps vet who was awarded the Purple Heart for severe injuries suffered in a 1966 machine-gun ambush near Da Nang, Vietnam, that put him in hospitals for two years, came Sunday with his granddaughter.

“Kids are curious and it’s good to encourage them to come out and understand what happened,” said Murphy, who lives in Fort Lauderdale. “I turned 21 in Vietnam and I was one of the oldest in my unit. Now, less than 1 percent of the U.S. population serves in the military.”

He hopes to be buried at the South Florida cemetery or at Arlington, where veterans who were wounded in battle are eligible for sites but “they’re running out of space,” he said.

John Kelly, a Korean War veteran, plans to be buried next to his wife Dolores, who died last year. His father is buried in Section 36.

“He served in World War I and was called back into the Navy when Pearl Harbor was attacked,” Kelly said.

The Gasparri family placed a flag at the columbarium, where former Army Corporal Remo Mastrocinqui’s urn sits. He is the brother of Rita Gasparri and brother-in-law of her husband, Angelo. Their relatives also served in World Wars I and II and are buried at the Long Island National Cemetery. Two of their grandsons are West Point cadets.

“We owe,” said Angelo, who recalled when Memorial Day was known as Decoration Day. “I didn’t serve and that’s always been a regret. I passed the physical three times for Vietnam but was deferred because I was working in the defense industry.

“I grew up in New York City on a street where everybody spoke different languages but everyone fought for this country without hesitation during World War II. The main thing on their minds was how to save this country.”

Added Rita: “People today do not realize how hard-fought our life of liberty is.”

Douglas Thornes, a Gulf War veteran from Boynton Beach, walked the rows checking for missing or incorrectly placed flags. He found one flag that was upside down and replaced it.

“Look at the symmetry here — no matter where you look, everything is in line,” he said.

He read the names: John Muhammad, Marine corporal in Vietnam, “loving husband, dad and grandpa;” Ronald Kaufman, Army private in Vietnam, “lover of birds, peaceful man;” Donald R. Hinds, Army specialist 4 in Vietnam, “gone fishing.”

Thornes’ grandfather served on a destroyer during World War II hunting Nazi submarines while his grandfather’s brothers were at Pearl Harbor — and one of their sons served in Korea. Thornes’ father, his uncles and their cousins fought in Vietnam.

Thornes comes every year with the U.S. Military Veterans Motorcycle Club to place flags and visit the graves of friends.

He would like to be buried among them.

“Most people say ‘Happy Memorial Day’ and think it’s just a day off when it is no such thing,” he added. “It’s a dignified day of loss. Unfortunately gardens of stone are places that people forget.

“We’re here to appreciate everyone who wrote a blank check to the U.S. government for a sum up to and including their lives. Some paid that price. Those who didn’t have the duty to remember.”