The community is invited to participate in Veterans Day ceremonies at the Patagonia Cemetery.
The ceremony is being organized by Patagonia resident Murphy Musick, who explained: “The Veterans of our small town and remote area gave so much for our country I feel a need to honor them every year on Veterans Day November 11th. This honor was historically done by local service groups, particularly our local VFW. Over many years this group of veterans and their supporters aged until the local VFW had so few members that the group dissolved in 2015. I had been volunteering to put out flags with the VFW for the past 30 years and have personally been placing flags since then with help from The Patagonia Museum and many friends.
“I think that the cemetery offers a tangible site for reflection upon our past in a very personal way. This year I would like to invite residence of Patagonia to help Honor our Veterans.”
Those interested in participating are invited to meet at the Cemetery at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 10 to “team up and have fun looking at each and every headstone to determine any clues as to their military service,” Musick said. “All worn flags will be replaced. The flags look beautiful and it is surprising how many there are.”
Community members are then invited to a ceremony at the cemetery flagpole on Wednesday, Nov. 11, at 11 a.m. This is a very special time to reflect on and to honor our veterans.
Editor’s note: The PRT is assisting Musick in assembling a list of the area’s veterans buried in the Patagonia Cemetery. The current iteration can be found here. If you are aware of any errors or veterans whose names are not included, please notify us at editor@prtnews.org.