Students place flags on Blandford graves, hear from veteran

Fourth grader Fallyn Brady of Blandford places new flags on veterans’ gravestones at Center Cemetery.

Reminder Publishing photo by Amy Porter

BLANDFORD — On May 21, Chester Elementary School Principal Vanna Maffucio and fourth grade teacher Mikayla Menin invited the fourth grade students and their families to meet after school at Center Cemetery in Blandford, across from the Blandford Fairgrounds, to replace the flags on graves of local veterans.

Maffuccio said Blandford Veterans Agent Douglas Emo, a former U.S. Air Force technical sergeant, visited fourth graders in Chester to discuss Memorial Day and the importance of honoring the military personnel who gave their lives for freedom.

“He shared stories and experiences both from serving and from celebrating and honoring fallen soldiers through the parade and festivities held in our towns on Memorial Day. We discussed how we would be replacing the flags on graves of our local veterans in order to show our respect, gratitude, and admiration for those who made the ultimate sacrifice,” she said. Emo also donated flags to the school to carry in their parades.

Menin said the fourth grade has been studying American history, and going to both historical cemeteries in Blandford was meaningful to the students. Some of the graves in the Old Cemetery have markers from the American Revolution.

“Fourth grade is working on a unit right now in our Wit and Wisdom program where we are reading about the events leading up to the American Revolution. We are currently reading, and engaging in conversations around the perspectives of the British and the Colonists. Students are understanding George Washington’s part, and King George III’s part in all of this,” Menin said.

Fourth grader Isaiah King said he had been studying the Boston Massacre, and wondered if any of the veterans in the cemetery might have been in it. 

All students in the school also participated in writing an essay, drawing a picture or writing an acrostic poem about Memorial Day that could be read at their town’s Memorial Day observance, she said.