Volunteers Aubrey Valdez, 5, and Mel Valdez, 25, place carnations at Los Angeles National Cemetery on Sunday. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)On the first Memorial Day — in 1868, soon after the Civil War — volunteers decorated the graves of Union soldiers with flowers . The tradition lives on at Los Angeles National Cemetery in Westwood, where Ruben Rocha for more than a decade has organized a group of volunteers who, on the Sunday before Memorial Day, place red and white carnations at the graves of veterans. This year, about 150 volunteers placed roughly 50,000 pairs of carnations at the cemetery, Rocha said. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)“We also invite their kids to come in as well,” he said.

Source: Los Angeles Times May 29, 2023 11:30 UTC